Cornyn sees Texas jobs in Alaska refuge
Posted on 10/05/2002 3:42:18 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Cornyn sees Texas jobs in Alaska refuge
Oil plan also improves security, he says; Kirk camp favors alternatives
10/05/2002
WICHITA FALLS - Drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness would boost national security and create Texas jobs, GOP Senate nominee John Cornyn said on Friday, and he accused his rival of siding with "environmental extremists" and against President Bush on the issue.
"There's one way that we can hopefully improve our national security, and that is by relying less and less on imported energy from troubled regions of the world like the Middle East," Mr. Cornyn said during a visit to Cactus Oil Tools Inc., an oilfield supply company in Wichita Falls.
Democrat Ron Kirk opposes the push to open Alaska's environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr. Kirk wants to use tax incentives to encourage domestic oil production and reduce dependence on imports, but sees far more effective projects than using the refuge.
The issue is a prime example of the stakes in the November elections.
Mr. Bush has made drilling in Alaska a centerpiece of the energy plan formulated by the task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney. The House, narrowly controlled by Republicans, passed an energy bill earlier this year modeled after that panel's recommendations.
But the Senate, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority, adopted its own version that omits Alaska drilling, and the issue remains stalemated. Environmental groups and other opponents are concerned about industrializing a region that is home to polar bears, caribou, musk oxen and wolves.
Given that the Alaska drilling project is the main sticking point between the House and Senate versions, and that Mr. Kirk supports the House version, Mr. Gibbs said the clash shows that Mr. Cornyn prefers posturing to finding common ground.
"The question that has to be put to John Cornyn is, are we going to take 99 percent of what's been agreed upon - a comprehensive long-term energy plan that reduces our dependence on foreign oil?" he said. "The people of America want an energy plan. John Cornyn wants partisan politics."
Mr. Cornyn said he's confident the drilling would be conducted in an "environmentally responsible manner."
He noted that 60 percent of U.S. oil comes from imports. Of that, 8.5 percent comes from Iraq through the oil-for-food program.
"If that supply were to be cut off at any given time, it would literally bring our economy to its knees and impair our national security in the process," he said.
The U.S. Geologic Survey estimates there to be 10.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain known by its acronym, ANWR. Polls show that roughly seven in 10 Alaskans favor drilling, and other studies show that drilling in Alaska would create up to 60,000 jobs for Texas companies that supply oilfield equipment and services.
Mr. Cornyn tweaked his opponent for calling the ANWR plan "goofy" last April, a few days after the Senate rejected it.
"You would think that anyone who wanted to represent the state of Texas would see the wisdom of this both in terms of our national security and in terms of job creation for the hard hats and the hard-working men and women of our state," he said.
Mr. Gibbs noted that 95 percent of Alaska's North Slope is already open to drilling. He added that Mr. Kirk supports building a pipeline to the lower 48 states that would make greater production economically feasible, create up to 400,000 jobs, and make available far more oil than ANWR could.
E-mail tgillman@dallasnews.com
Yet another Kirk stand against progress and with the environmental whackos and with the Senate Obstructors.....The U.S. Geologic Survey estimates there to be 10.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain known by its acronym, ANWR. Polls show that roughly seven in 10 Alaskans favor drilling, and other studies show that drilling in Alaska would create up to 60,000 jobs for Texas companies that supply oilfield equipment and services.
Mr. Cornyn tweaked his opponent for calling the ANWR plan "goofy" last April, a few days after the Senate rejected it.
"You would think that anyone who wanted to represent the state of Texas would see the wisdom of this both in terms of our national security and in terms of job creation for the hard hats and the hard-working men and women of our state," he said.
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LOL! Yes, it is, and I did. Thanks.....
I'm no expert on the matter, but I believe the environmentalists do not fully understand the situation or the vastness of the barren land up there. And these days they do these things in a very clean way. BTW, polor bears spend a lot of time in the water and tend to hang on floating chunks of ice so as to spot potential meals better.
With the Enviro-Nazis it's not about the environment. It's about politics. If it was
about the environment, we wouldn't have all the forest fires out in the west today.
Where does he think 10B in oil is going to come from in the lower 48?
I don't think he is either......
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