skippy the bush kangaroo

Thursday, November 10, 2005

close to a couple dozen gop representatives freeze over drilling the arctic

another awol priority stalled by those who are coming to their senses.

house leaders late wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill thursday.

they also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the atlantic and pacific coasts - regions currently under a drilling moratorium.

the actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of the arctic national wildlife refuge, or anwr, to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists, who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions. president bush has made drilling in the alaska refuge his top energy priority. - ap and wapo

i want to actually single out one of the 22 who said "whoa."

representative sherwood boehlert (r-ny) who has actually been pretty good at protecting the environment, not only for his district, but the country. yes...he's a "green" republican. he has been endorsed the the ny league of conservation voters and was incensed about the anwr drilling amendment being placed on the energy bill...and made his displeasure known both in the house and in public. and he is a firm believer that science is the key to our country's future...he knows that through science we can explore alternative energy.

part of his statement on the floor in 2001
we can have lots of spirited debate about the science and the impact of drilling and other essential matters related to this issue, but i will leave them to others. for me, this is an issue of fundamental principle - what right do we have as human beings, and what sense does it make as a nation, to open a pristine area to oil drilling when we aren't willing to take the simplest, easiest steps to conserve oil? earlier today, this house defeated my amendment to raise cafe standards, which would have been the one truly significant conservation measure in this bill.

opening anwr without any consideration of taking serious conservation steps is simply irresponsible. we are denying future generations a wilderness because we refuse to take painless steps to control our own generation's appetite for oil. i don't know when that kind of thinking became conservative. but I do know that for eons that kind of gluttony has been considered wrong.
call him tomorrow and say "thanks"
posted by Cookie Jill at 12:05 AM |

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