Idaho Lawmakers Back Energy Independence
Idaho Lawmakers Back Energy Independence 5/25/2006
Bill Authorizes Oil Exploration and Production in ANWR
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson and C.L. "Butch" Otter voted with the House majority on Thursday for legislation to reduce high gas prices and America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil.
The American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act, H.R. 5429, was approved 225-201. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Its key provisions include authority to explore for oil and natural gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refugee (ANWR).
Exploration in ANWR will be limited to a small area and conducted under the most stringent environmental protection requirements ever applied to a federal energy project. The production and development of ANWR would bring with it hundreds and thousands of new jobs, boosting the economies of Alaska and America.
"We're promoting alternative energy, from geothermal to nuclear and wind to biomass. We're promoting more efficiency and conservation. We're working on an ethanol infrastructure. But none of those measures will bring down gas prices for America's working families in the short term. Making a real commitment to tapping the oil riches of ANWR will make a difference, by influencing the psychology of the worldwide oil market that now literally has us over a barrel," Congressman Otter said. "I hope the Senate can get past its paralyzing political correctness and do the right thing for the American people."
"The answer to skyrocketing gas prices is to diversify," Congressman Simpson said. "America needs to be energy self-sufficient and that means we need to drill in ANWR, build new nuclear reactors, and research and develop other alternative energy sources. With this action, the House has taken another significant step toward ending our crippling reliance on foreign oil."
Highlights of H.R. 5429, the American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act, include:
* An export ban requiring all oil and natural gas produced in ANWR's northern Coastal Plain to stay in America.
* Stringent environmental protections including requirements that the Department of the Interior establish regulations to ensure that drilling will have no significant adverse effect on fish and wildlife and their habitat.
* A limit on the total surface area covered by drilling and production facilities to 2,000 acres.
http://otter.house.gov/news.aspx?ID_News=58