Political Quotes

“rapidly rising gas prices are a serious concern in my home district of southern Arizona. It's a serious concern across the Nation, but I think it's important that we recognize that today's prices are the result of policies that have been put in place for many years and, in fact, for many decades. There are responsible actions that we can take now to address the problem. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, also known as ANWR, is not one of them. In recent weeks, some of my colleagues have called for opening up the areas off of coastlines and in ANWR to drilling. Current Federal law prevents drilling in these specific areas. Claims that opening these areas would increase drilling, would increase supplies, would bring down the prices have been made all across the House here. They would have us believe that there is nowhere else to drill in the United States except in the areas that are currently off limits to drilling. They claim that we need to increase domestic supply, and if we want to do that, our only option is to open up these incredibly sensitive environmental areas. This information, Madam Speaker, is blatantly wrong. The oil industry has not tapped all of its drilling options. It holds leases for drilling on lands that have not yet been utilized. In the last 4 years, the Bureau of Land Management has issued over 28,000 permits to drill on public land.”