Joe Wilson: “I have long believed that we do not have to choose between having energy and preserving the environment that we love.…”

“I have long believed that we do not have to choose between having energy and preserving the environment that we love. These two amendments allow us to do both and to begin with conservation. What this amendment does say is, we are going to explore for oil in ANWR and Alaska. Let us take the revenues, the royalties; half go to Alaska for Alaskans, but the other half, let us set up some trust funds to do two things. First, invest in renewable energy so we can reduce our reliance on foreign sources of supply and ultimately make ourselves more independent. The second is to conserve the land that we love, both in Alaska and in the rest of the United States.”