From the Office of Senator Kerry

Monday, February 12, 2001

"President Bush has indicated he will soon press Congress for the authority to open some of America's last pristine wilderness to oil and gas drilling. His position made for dangerous rhetoric on the campaign trail, and even worse public policy for an Administration. Most Senators agree that drilling in ANWR is not just environmentally unsound, it gives false hopes to citizens suffering energy problems today.

Bush's efforts to link ANWR to the crisis in California is muddled at best and cynical at worst: if we opened ANWR today it wouldn't produce oil for at least ten years and California generates less than one percent of its electricity from burning oil. Exploiting ANWR will only open up a pandora's box of environmental dangers while doing nothing for Californians now or in the future.

We need to make it clear to President Bush that this approach to energy policy is unacceptable, and that is why I will -- if necessary -- filibuster any attempt to open ANWR to this kind of exploitation. President Bush pledged to change the tone in Washington, which is why we should take this false choice off the table and, instead, make some meaningful choices and pursue a true comprehensive energy policy that helps to alleviate our immediate problems, conserves energy, supports renewable technologies, wisely maximizes our natural resources – and gradually reduces our heavy dependence on fossil fuel. I believe in bipartisanship, but I also believe in standing on principle. On this issue, there is no legislative compromise which wouldn't compromise our commitment to the environment."