As the price Missourians pay for a gallon of gasoline continues to rise, we are again hearing calls for the United States to get hold of more of its own oil by drilling for it where we know it exists – in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, for instance.
While most Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington says it’s ludicrous to put the interests of caribou ahead of people, most Democrats strongly oppose drilling in ANWR.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) says drilling in Alaska is no silver bullet to our problems. McCaskill says it would be years before American consumers would get any benefit from ANWR oil. Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) points out Congress approved drilling in ANWR more than a decade ago in 1996 and the legislation was vetoed by then-President Bill Clinton. Bond adds if we had started drilling in the 1990s we would have this oil now.
McCaskill says there is plenty of existing land which has been zoned for oil drilling, adding the oil companies are not in any rush to drill there. Bond responds by saying those areas not being drilled in are areas in which is is not economical to do so.
Download/Listen: Senator Claire McCaskill (:24 MP3)
Download/Listen: Senator Kit Bond (:26 MP3)