House Urged to Reconsider Arctic and Offshore Oil Exploration

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Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273

Washington, D.C., November 11, 2005—Passage by the House of Representatives of a budget bill has been stymied by a small group of liberal Republicans because the oppose the one measure before Congress that can significantly increase America's energy supplies. The provision to open a small part of the Arctic National Wildlife (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration cannot pass without their support, even though that provision has already passed the House with a comfortable bi-partisan majority, since it appears that not a single Democrat will vote for the budget bill.

As many Americans are now faced with much higher heating bills that they can't afford, the Congress needs to get serious about unlocking our enormous domestic energy resources. The provisions in the budget bill to open ANWR and some of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America's offshore oil and gas resources is a good first step in the right direction. We therefore urge this small group of liberal Republicans to reconsider their position and put the interests of their constituents ahead of a few radical environmental pressure groups, who have been spreading misinformation about ANWR for decades.

Chairmen Joe Barton and Richard Pombo, however, are to be congratulated for demanding that these provisions be included in the budget bill. Increasing the supply of affordable energy is more important than anything else in the budget bill.