Lynn A. Westmoreland: “I just wanted to bring up some more points about the Federal lands since that's one of the main things that we're…”

“I just wanted to bring up some more points about the Federal lands since that's one of the main things that we're talking about here today is Federal land. The problem is that, and this is the reality, that 97 percent of the Federal offshore areas and 94 percent of Federal onshore areas are not leased by the government. The government is stockpiling these leases, not the oil companies. And I'm not being a big defender of the oil companies. I just know that the truth is the truth. But at the end of the day, it's the truth. And the truth is that they are not stockpiling these leases. The truth is that raising taxes on them is not going to bring down the price of gas. Oil companies are, indeed, drilling on these leases, which have oil in them, and when there's a pipeline close that they can ship this oil. You know, we haven't built a refinery in this country since the late 1970s.”