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Washington -
Three Republican senators stated their opposition to drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "We could do far better to reduce our reliance on foreign oil by increasing the efficiency of our automobiles than by drilling in the Arctic," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, at a press conference in the Capitol.
Senators Collins, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Olympia Snowe of Maine endorsed a letter released at the event by Americans for Alaska, a group of prominent Americans from all walks of life who support protection of Alaska's wilderness heritage. The letter was signed by some 200 citizens ranging from former President Jimmy Carter to actor Kevin Spacey, Harvard scientist E.O. Wilson, managing director of Goldman Sachs & Co. Gene Sykes, Vice Admiral James E. Service (ret.), former commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, former Time Inc. CEO Reginald K. Brack and dozens more.
The senators were joined at the press conference by another trio of leading Republicans: Theodore Roosevelt IV, managing director of Lehman Brothers; Susan Eisenhower, a national security expert, president of the Eisenhower Institute and granddaughter of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower; and Larry Rockefeller, an attorney and co-founder of Americans for Alaska.
"Drilling in ANWR is not only contentious but inefficient as well," said Sen. Snowe in a statement released at the press conference. "The fastest, cheapest and cleanest step we could take toward reducing our nation's dependence on foreign oil would be to improve the fuel efficiency of America's auto fleet--and particularly our biggest gas guzzlers, SUVs and minivans."
"The national security argument made by President Bush has been demolished," said Roosevelt. "There is no way we can drill our way to energy independence. The Arctic Refuge coastal plain is the biological heart of America's Arctic. It should not be sacrificed for a limited, speculative oil prospect that would not reach the market for at least a decade."
"Coming from an old oil family," added Rockefeller, "I'm here to say it's time to move beyond oil. We don't have to surrender the Refuge for a few months' worth of oil 10 years from now."
"Conservation is a conservative cause," said Eisenhower. Drilling in "one of America's most valuable treasures would mean, in a sense, that the terrorists win." Expressing concern about the administration's "impulse to go it alone," Eisenhower said "We can't do that. We are not without other options." For example, she noted "the enormous opportunity to take President Putin up on his offer" for Russia to supply much more oil than in the past.
Noting the controversy over fuel efficiency in SUV's, Sen. Collins said "It would take 18 years after authorization before peak production is reached, and even then, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the region would produce approximately the same amount of oil we could save by closing the 'SUV loophole' in CAFE standards," referring to the fuel economy standard set by the government.
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