Political Quotes

“I support the Budget Committee's recommendation that there be an instruction to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on which I serve, to permit leasing and drilling for the oil in Alaska. I listened carefully to what the senior Senator from Alaska told us about history tonight. He reminded us that most recently, in 1980, our country made a decision. Congress debated it here, and President Carter, during his administration, made this decision. He approved of and made both parts of the decision as President. One was to set aside 100 million acres of land in Alaska, an astonishing amount for wilderness area--of which I approved--and then to set aside 1.5 million acres for drilling. That was the decision our country made. Almost all of our decisions about energy and the environment intersect. They almost always are balanced. In 1980, we decided 100 million acres in Alaska for conservation and 1.5 million acres for drilling. And then we are talking, in this proposal, about 2,000 of those 1.5 million acres that we would drill. I would not stand here and say there is no environmental burden when we drill for oil. Of course, there is. But I would like to assert that we almost always seek to find a reasonable balance. What is on the other side of the balance? Why do we need the oil? We are being reminded of that in a great many ways today. We are a nation about to go to war.”