Dick Cheney has weighed in with his answer to the nation’s energy woes:
Vice President Cheney yesterday called for a substantial increase in domestic drilling for oil and other natural resources, including in environmentally sensitive areas, saying that only increased production — and not new technology — will satisfy the nation’s demand for energy.
“We are an economy that runs on petroleum. Some 20 million barrels of it a day. That can and will change over time, but it will be a very long time,” said Cheney, former head of U.S. oil company Halliburton. “We’d be doing the whole country a favor if more of that oil were produced here at home.”
He chastised Congress for not opening up coastal areas and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and bemoaned the fact that Cuba and China have forged a partnership to drill near the Florida coast, while the U.S. has declared waters near Florida off-limits. “Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply,” he said. [UPDATE: Looks like the claim of Cuban-Chinese drilling near Florida is bogus, even though it’s become a GOP talking point. (Thanks, Laurence.)]
Here’s a video of his comments:
