Byron Dorgan: “Absolutely. These record profits, the highest profits in history, are accompanied, by the way, in most cases--let me…”

“Absolutely. These record profits, the highest profits in history, are accompanied, by the way, in most cases--let me give an example. Exxon reports a 75-percent increase in net profits to $9.9 billion and they produced 5 percent less oil and gas at the same time. Part of that was due to the hurricane. But the company admits that even without the hurricane, they would have produced less oil and gas at the same time they had the highest profits in history. How does that square with what our colleague from Utah said? What our colleague from Utah said is not accurate. It is not. He said it with great conviction, he said it with great agitation, and it is wrong. Flat wrong. There are plenty of other things to talk about with respect to this issue. Our colleague raises the suggestion that we can't drill anyplace. You can't drill anyplace. Look, I support drilling in Lease 181 in the Gulf of Mexico. The only place he was accurate about was the issue of ANWR. Do I think we should drill in ANWR as a first resort? The answer is no. I think it ought to be the last resort if we ever drill there. We have people on the floor who want to open up all these pristine places, especially ANWR, that we have set aside and let's drill. Katie bar the door, drill anywhere. We have set ANWR aside, but there are plenty of places I think we ought to drill. This was one of the most partisan rants I have heard for some while on the floor of the Senate. We are used to it.…”