04.17.02

Senator Cantwell's Statement (as prepared) in Opposition to ANWR Amendment

Mr. President, I rise today in opposition to this amendment, which would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development. Drilling in ANWR is a short-term, environmentally unconscionable fix that fails to address our nation's real malady--dependence on not just foreign oil, but our over-dependence on oil itself.

I believe there is no way to justify drilling in ANWR in the name of national security.

Oil extracted from the Wildlife Refuge would not reach refineries for seven to ten years and would never satisfy more than two percent of our nation's oil demands at any one time. Thus, it would have no discernable short or long-term impact on the price of fuel or our increasing dependence on OPEC imports. Put another way, the amount of economically recoverable oil would temporarily increase our domestic reserves by only a third of one percent, which would not even make a significant dent in our imports, much less influence world prices set by OPEC.

An "ANWR is the Answer" energy policy fails to recognize the fundamental truth: we cannot drill our way to energy independence.

The United States is home to only three percent of the world's known oil reserves, and unless we take the steps necessary to increase the energy efficiency of our economy-and in particular, the transportation sector-this nation's consumers will remain subject to the whims of the OPEC cartel. To suggest that drilling in the Arctic is the answer is to ignore the facts, and creates a complacency that truly jeopardize our economic and energy security.

Furthermore, I believe the recent US Geological Survey report on the biological value of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and the impacts of oil and gas development on resident species reinforces what many of us have argued from the beginning. Drilling in the Arctic represents a real and significant threat to a wide range of species including caribou, snow geese, musk oxen, and other wildlife.

This report represents sound science. It was peer reviewed and summarizes more than 12 years of research. In stark contrast, the Department of Interior's recent release of a new 2-page memo-which purports to examine the impacts of "more limited drilling" in 300,000 acres of ANWR-was prepared in just six days. Essentially, this Administration has decided to dispute its own scientists.

Rather than drilling in ANWR, I believe our task is to craft a balanced policy that will permanently strengthen our national security.

We need an energy policy that endows America with a strong and independent 21st century energy system by recognizing fuel diversity, energy efficiency, distributed generation, and environmentally sound domestic production as the permanent solutions to our nation's enduring energy needs.

I think we are making some progress on these goals with this bill. Obviously, one of the most important provisions the Senate has thus far debated involves the expedited construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states. There are at least 32 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in existing Alaskan fields and building a pipeline to the continental U.S. would create thousands of jobs, provide a huge opportunity for the steel industry, and help prevent our nation from becoming dependent on foreign natural gas, from many of the same Middle Eastern countries from which we import oil.

Adopting energy efficient technologies is another way we can significantly advance our national and economic security. For example, a DOE report stated that automakers commonly use low-friction tires on new cars to help them comply with fuel economy standards. However, because there are no standards or efficiency labels for replacement tires, most consumers unwittingly purchase less efficient tires when their originals wear out, even though low-friction tires would only cost a few dollars more per tire and would save the average American driver $100 worth of fuel over the 40,000-mile life of the tires. Fully phased in, better replacement tires would cut gasoline consumption of all U.S. vehicles by about 3 percent, saving our nation over 5 billion barrels of oil over the next 50 years, the same amount the United States Geological Survey says could be economically recovered from ANWR.

Unfortunately, I also believe we have thus far missed the single most important opportunity in this bill for truly enhancing our nation's energy security and minimizing our foreign oil dependence. That is, we have missed the opportunity to put in place real and meaningful CAFE standards, which would increase the energy efficiency of our nation's vehicles and decrease our foreign oil dependence, mitigate emissions of harmful greenhouse gasses and save American consumers money.

I continue to believe that the only way to permanently ensure our nation's security is to look beyond 19th century policies that continue our country's reliance on the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels.

Now is the time to launch the transition to a new, 21st century system of distributed generation based on renewable energy sources and environmentally responsible fuel cells. Imagine if today a significant portion of American homes and businesses produced their own electricity from renewables, and powered their cars with home-grown biofuels. Our country would no longer be at the mercy of OPEC, energy bills would be dramatically lower, our air would be cleaner, and our energy system could not be devastated by terrorist attacks on centralized power plants or transmission lines.

These are the policies that will make our energy system truly secure and independent.

I agree that our national security depends in part on the United States becoming less dependent on foreign energy resources, and that we must develop more domestic supplies and a better balance of renewable energy that will also make us less dependent on non-renewable fossil fuels.

It would be a terrible mistake to drill in ANWR, truly one of America's national treasures, for a negligible and insignificant supply of oil. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. I yield the floor.