Fox News Channel "Your World" - Transcript

Interview

MR. ASMAN: Drill now to drill down the price of gas. Just minutes ago on "Your World," Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana telling me she's willing to do exactly that. Listen.

SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA): (From videotape.) We want to force the leadership of the Republicans and the Democrats to come to terms with reality, which is we have to drill in more places as quickly as we can, of which I am a big proponent.

MR. ASMAN: Reaction now from Senator Robert Menendez, who is against offshored drilling.

Welcome, Senator. And we should tell you, Senator Landrieu says she likes you a lot; you're just wrong.

SEN. MENENDEZ: (Laughs.) Well, I like Mary Landrieu a lot, and if I lived in Louisiana, in an oil-producing region, I probably would have her view maybe. But I just think that we have a difference of opinion.

Look, the issue here is even President Bush's Energy Information Administration says that drilling, which will take a decade before we see the first drop, will do nothing about gas prices today. And so the reality -- the reality is people --

MR. ASMAN: Yeah, but, Senator, if I could just stop you -- if I could just -- if I could --

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, let me just say --

MR. ASMAN: But if I could just stop you on that one point.

SEN. MENENDEZ: I waited for you 15 minutes. Let me just say that the fact of the matter is everybody's looking for relief today.

MR. ASMAN: All right. All right, but --

SEN. MENENDEZ: So let's make clear that this isn't about relief today.

MR. ASMAN: -- but the fact is is that the price today is based on the future. You know that. All prices dealing with oil --

SEN. MENENDEZ: And that's why we're going to take out speculation.

MR. ASMAN: -- are based on future contracts, and the moment --

SEN. MENENDEZ: And that's --

MR. ASMAN: -- something bad happens, the prices go up, and the moment something good happens, prices go down.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, you know, something good can happen right now: it's called the 68 million acres of federal land already leased to the oil industry which largely is going unexplored. And so let them drill where they already have the license and the permission to go ahead and do it, and yet they don't do it.

MR. ASMAN: But part of the problem with that is that some oil companies, like Chevron -- look at Destin Dome. I'm sure you know of Destin Dome in Florida, which had permission to go and drill for 2.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and Chevron says it's because of you folks that they're not able to do it.

SEN. MENENDEZ: No, the reality is they have 68 million acres which they not only have leases, but licenses to pursue, and they're not doing it. Over half of those acres are on land.

MR. ASMAN: They're trying to at Destin Dome and they can't because you guys are stopping them.

SEN. MENENDEZ: You're picking one site. I'm picking 68 million acres. And in fact they --

MR. ASMAN: But included in that 68 million acres is Destin Dome.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Sixty-eight million acres.

I don't want to be an advocate for the oil company. You may want to. The reality is they have 68 million acres.

MR. ASMAN: I'm just an advocate of them getting the right to drill if you give them permission to drill.

SEN. MENENDEZ: They have the right -- they have the right to drill and they are not using --

MR. ASMAN: They're not able to.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Are you telling me they have no right to drill in the 68 million acres? Come on. You know better than that. The reality is --

MR. ASMAN: Within the 68 million acres is Destin Dome, and they say that they can't drill there because Congress is stopping them.

SEN. MENENDEZ: You know, your argument is weak because you can only pick one location. The reality is they have 68 million acres that they have the license and all ready to go. They're not going ahead and producing drilling on there. They just want to increase their portfolio. So let them go ahead and drill where they already have access to.

Let them ensure that what we drill domestically doesn't get exported abroad. Americans I think would be shocked to know, in fact, that the domestic production we create, a good part of it gets sold out of this country.

That's not acceptable to us, either.

MR. ASMAN: But, Senator, I've got to tell you it's not just my argument about Destin Dome, and there are dozens, literally dozens of others areas that companies want to drill in, have been given permission and are stopped from doing so by Congress, and that's why Senator Mary Landrieu and other Democrats, including Bill Nelson and others, are saying let them go at it.

SEN. MENENDEZ: We're for that. As a matter of fact, we say use it or lose it. Let them drill where they have in the 68 million acres, half of it on land, the rest in the Gulf Coast, let them go at it. But the reality is is they're not doing that, and it isn't because they're being interceded with in each and every -- and you and I both know that. The reality is --

(Cross talk.)

MR. ASMAN: Well, I know -- we've had a lot of calls from Chevron, and Chevron says that's not true.

SEN. MENENDEZ: -- they want to get more oil on their -- or more places to drill on their book because that increases their stock prices and just gives big oil more benefits. And that's --

MR. ASMAN: Well, that's --

SEN. MENENDEZ: I don't believe the consumer --

(Cross talk.)

MR. ASMAN: -- the fact is that Chevron was given the right. They can drill, and Senator Mary Landrieu and other Democrats in your party say they should be given that right, and you disagree.

SEN. MENENDEZ: I say that they should drill in the 68 million acres. They already have a license to drill, and they are largely not impeded before they get their hands on anything else that could affect the economy of states like mine, in New Jersey, where tourism is the second-largest driver of our economy, and could be dramatically affected by drilling.

MR. ASMAN: All right, 2.6 trillion cubic feet in Destin Dome, and they say they can't do it because of you.

Senator Landrieu and you disagree --

SEN. MENENDEZ: Yeah. And cubic feet doesn't -- doesn't equal.

MR. ASMAN: -- but you both like each other and she says that --

SEN. MENENDEZ: We like each other.

MR. ASMAN: -- you're welcome to her house for dinner anytime. I just wanted you to know that.

SEN. MENENDEZ: And she's welcome to New Jersey for one of our great meals anytime she wants to come. But, look, consumers want relief now, not a decade from now.

MR. ASMAN: That's true.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Let them drill -- well, they can drill now and get relief. And let's take the speculation out of the marketplace. That's the --

MR. ASMAN: All right.

SEN. MENENDEZ: -- single thing that we can do that's going to bring the prices down today.

MR. ASMAN: Well, drilling is another is another thing that could be done. But Senator Mendes (sic), we agree to disagree. And we thank you for coming.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Thank you.

MR. ASMAN: Appreciate it.

END.

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