Kerry on ANWR: The Republican Party is Mortgaging America’s Future

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry on ANWR: The Republican Party is Mortgaging America’s Future
September 20th, 2005

Earlier today I posted two threads with photos from Arctic Refuge Action Day in Washington. The rally was hosted by the Wilderness Society and other conservation groups and was held on Capitol Hill. John Kerry was one of the featured speakers at the event. The photo threads can be found here and here.

Republicans want us to believe that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be of benefit to the economy and reduce oil dependence. It’s simply not true. What it is, is more of the same old, same old, Bush Corporate Cronyism. (Kerry talked about this briefly yesterday, in his speech at Brown University.)

Here is the text of John Kerry’s remarks today, as prepared for delivery:

I would like to start this afternoon by thanking all of you for making the journey to Washington and for having the dedication to come all the way to Congress with your message about the importance of protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling — a policy we should not be pursuing through backdoor efforts. In fact, we shouldn’t be doing this at all.

There’s been a lot said about the Arctic Refuge during this debate. We’ve heard that drilling in the Refuge can be done in an environmentally-friendly manner. We’ve heard that drilling in the Refuge will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We’ve heard that drilling in the Refuge will bring gas prices down at the pump. And we’ve even heard that drilling in the Refuge belongs in the national budget because of the revenues from the lease sales.

Now I’m going to tell you why each one of these arguments is false.

MORE, LINKS & ACTION ALERTS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=622