David Thomas: “The idea of taking money out of the Naval Petroleum Reserve, $11 million on top of the $43 million that has been removed…”

“The idea of taking money out of the Naval Petroleum Reserve, $11 million on top of the $43 million that has been removed on a project which the President has signed that we are going to sell this Government property, is a dumb idea. The Department of Energy itself has said if you take the $11 million, we have two choices. We do not drill like we need to drill to continue the production. That will cost the American taxpayers next year $14 million. He takes $11 million out. Next year, it costs the taxpayers $14 million. In 1998, it costs the taxpayers $31 million because they did not have the money to drill the wells they need to continue to improve the largest Government holding of oil resources in the lower 48. If they decide they are going to spend money they would have otherwise spent on other projects, it would come out of the environmental fund, which means it may not meet the standards that these people impose for the environment. Now, you are damned if you do and you are damned if you do not.”