Political Quotes

“It is 87 percent. Many Western States have similar percentages of Federal land within their boundaries. In the earliest days of our country, of course, there wasn't a great hue and cry to have private ownership in this land. The Federal Government owned it, and some of it may never have any real practical value when it comes to residential or commercial development. But the Federal Government took the responsibility under an agency known as the Bureau of Land Management. This is kind of the landlord for America's public lands. The Bureau of Land Management has determined that 95 percent of the lands they manage across the United States are already available for oil and gas leasing. So if you hear an argument from the other side that we now have to go and drill into the national monument lands because we have nowhere else to look for oil and gas and precious minerals, that is just not the fact. Ninety-five percent of the Federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management are already available for oil and gas leasing. Instead of hopping onto the drilling bandwagon, we should first focus on energy exploration in existing areas before we turn to these precious national monuments. I am afraid that the President and many of the people in the energy industry talk about oil and gas development as though it were the cure for all of our energy woes in America--drill and burn, drill and burn, drill and burn. There is much more to the challenge that faces our Nation.”