Political Quotes

“I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. It would strike a key provision of the bill that would provide American jobs and tap into a potential natural resource, American oil shale. This amendment also increases the Federal take from drilling in ANWR from 50 to 51 percent, leaving the State of Alaska with that much less. Now, proponents of this amendment will argue that we should get rid of the oil shale provisions because the technology is not proven. Estonia does get a sizable amount of energy from oil shale currently. I would like to ask why is the proponent of this amendment so concerned that this is going to be a big thing in the future and affect the western way of life if he thinks it's never going to take off and amount to anything. You know, he can't have it both ways. So why don't we let the companies experiment at their own expense, on their own dime, and see if they can find a commercial, viable process that works to extract this hugely potential source of energy. {time} 1640 The USGS has estimated that there are 1.5 trillion--with a ``T''-- barrels of oil equivalent in these oil shale formations. I think it's worth at least experimenting to see if it can be commercially extracted because that would be a huge relief from having to get foreign oil, and it would create money for the treasuries of States and the Federal Government and create American jobs as well as the security aspect.…”