Political Quotes

“Again, Canada has every right to develop its energy. They are a formidable competitor to our own domestic production, and we enjoy access to that market and want to encourage it. But I resent the pot calling the kettle black, so to speak. There is another chart that generally shows the extent of the activity, again in a little more detail. Here is the Alaska side. This is the Canadian Northwest Territories. This is the identification of wells that have been drilled and off-shore activity. You can see, as it moves through this area, the Porcupine caribou move through this area and it has significant exposure. And the Dempster Highway runs from Norman Wells on up to Inuvik. The point I want to make is that as we look at the companies coming in, Anderson exploration and Petro-Canada, we can identify the companies that bought up the leases. Anderson alone has done nearly 600 square miles of 3-D seismic testing over the past three winters. Petro- Canada has already drilled exploratory wells outside of Inuvik, where Anderson now plans to drill in the Eagle Plain area. That is again shown on this chart, in this general area. It is a very significant area associated with the migratory path of the caribou. Are these exploration plans 'hasty and ill-conceived'? I question that because these are the words of Mr. Anderson, the Canadian Environmental Minister. I am sure the answer would be no; in his opinion they are not ill-conceived. That is their opinion and I do not challenge that.”