Hensarling Praises House Action to Increase American Oil Supply

Hensarling Praises House Action to Increase American Oil Supply

Representative Jeb Hensarling today praised house passage of the American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act (H.R. 5429), legislation that allows for oil and gas leasing in Alaska's Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This would be the first step toward developing an environmentally sound program to explore, drill and produce oil and gas in ANWR.

"Energy policy that provides a reliable and affordable energy supply is in the best interest of all Americans, said Hensarling. "As we have seen, the market forces of supply and demand have resulted in high energy costs that strain millions of hardworking Americans and can have a negative impact on our economy."

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"Had President Clinton and the Democrats in Congress not blocked exploration in ANWR 10 years ago, a greater supply of American oil could have been available today," said Hensarling. "As Nancy Pelosi's Democrats run to photo-ops at gas stations and point to high gas prices, they forget to mention that it is their refusal to support common sense policies that got us here. Pelosi's Democrats can't have it both ways, it is completely disingenuous to complain about the price of oil while blocking any and all measures that would lower prices at the pump."

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"The exploration area that we are talking about in relation to all of ANWR is equivalent to five dollar bills on a basketball court," Hensarling said. "Safely exploring in a frozen, barren area so small in size to provide additional energy resources for all Americans is simply a common sense policy."

http://www.house.gov/list/press/tx05_hensarling/pr052506ANWR.html