Jay Rockefeller: “I have consistently, over the years, voted against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge area. I will oppose…”

“I have consistently, over the years, voted against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge area. I will oppose both the Murkowski and the Stevens amendments. As a refuge, ANWR is protected land, intended to ensure the national diversity of wildlife, to ensure quality in water and conservation, and to provide subsistence living for Native Americans who have lived in that region for many generations. The Coastal Plain within the refuge is targeted by some, as we well know, for oil exploration while only 8 percent of this refuge, the plain, is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including polar bears, caribou, and 100 species of birds. ANWR is likely to produce, at best, 2 percent of America's oil demand in a given year if the oil, in fact, is there. Extracting it, if it is there, will be extremely costly. According to the Congressional Research Service, ANWR would not under any circumstances start producing oil for at least 7 years, or perhaps as many as 12 years. The limited amount of oil and the problems extracting it make it clear we should not risk opening the refuge, which is the last 5 percent of Alaska's vast North Slope that remains protected. There are other, better ways to promote domestic oil production and other more effective ways to deal with our country's energy needs.”