Pete Domenici: “For something like 40 years, we will be using crude oil, our own or others, because we cannot get rid of the current…”

“For something like 40 years, we will be using crude oil, our own or others, because we cannot get rid of the current mode of transportation any quicker. Cars will be cars, and we will be using them because we cannot wean them off the scene. As we move to a better era of a better life where we do not have to use crude oil in our daily lives so much, we will have to use the bridge which will be crude oil. Now, why do I talk about this? I do because it is important we understand that if we have any cards, playing poker, if we have any aces in our hands, we better go ahead and play them, and the aces are crude oil we might produce some way that is ours. We ought to go ahead and play the card. I submit that we do have a lot of aces. We have got a huge amount of crude oil that is in the Outer Continental Shelf that we ought to be exploring for forthwith. We ought to take the moratoria off and start at 50 miles out across this land. If we did that and sent that message for starters, it would be received in a terrific way. Take the moratoria that were put in the bill that has been referred to as the Domenici bill for production, and believe it or not, we would send a signal that America is coming back to life, and during that bridge time we are going to produce more oil on our own. Nothing will help us more in reducing the price and cost to our consumers than that idea we implemented.”