The hypocrisy existing by the majority members of the Senate has never been more evident than not allowing debate on the leasing of a small tract of land in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Refuge in Alaska. They say this is a pristine area, but it is not. It is a flat mosquito-infested wetland for 2 months of the year, snow covered the rest of the year, with wind-chill factors well below zero.
A pristine area is a posh Beverly Hills, Calif., neighborhood comprised of multimillion-dollar homes and very upscale shopping areas. In June 2000, drilling began behind the Beverly Center Shopping Mall across from Cedars Sinai Hospital. Earlier, a rig was drilling on the grounds of the Beverly Hills High School about 20 ft from the running track. Not too far away, a permanent building on Pico Ave. was constructed to house a drilling project that contains a complete oil-producing field with more than 100 wells. These drilling rigs are sound-proofed and meet stringent noise-environmental regulations.
The Wall Street Journal (Apr. 4) reported that Democratic presidential hopefuls Senators Kerry and Leiberman plan to filibuster any move to open ANWR for oil and gas exploration. They are therefore joining with the Democrats of the past who used taxes to siphon off billions of dollars from crude oil revenues, forcing our dependency on foreign oil.
To protect this supply of foreign oil, our military was sent to these countries at great cost to taxpayers. In three different terrorist attacks, 304 of our servicemen and women were killed. Our nation had to go to war because of our oil dependency, with more loss of life.
It has been very costly for our nation to have allowed our crude oil production to decline to a very low level without any energy policy decisions being made by members of the Senate. They are either with us or with those who would cut off our oil supplies, which is a threat to our national security. It’s past time for a vote.
Doyle T. Grogan
Denver
