Barbara Boxer: “I will go to the Los Angeles Times editorial which I thought was right on point. They say: Wilderness is or it is not.…”

“I will go to the Los Angeles Times editorial which I thought was right on point. They say: Wilderness is or it is not. There is no mostly wilderness with just a little bit of development. It continues: No matter what Dick Cheney says, U.S. energy security does not depend on drilling for fuel in the Arctic refuge. The Alaskan oil would not come on line for 10 years. It goes through that. It says: The fastest way to gain more energy security is to use less oil and use it more efficiently. It shows that better tires alone will give you more oil than lies in the refuge. Then it ends up: The nation doesn't need a muscle-bound energy policy. It needs a smart one--one that does not rely so heavily on fossil fuels and fossil thinking. The choice is clear. I respect my friends from the other side on this debate, but I hope we will defeat the proposal to open the refuge.”