Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) explains why drilling in the Arctic Refuge will help us fight climate change:
Won’t drilling for more oil make global warming worse?
What some might perceive as the contradiction in further drilling, when we take into account the mean estimate of what we take from ANWR, it will be the equivalent of what we have seen from Prudhoe Bay, which has produced 20 percent of this country’s oil [production]. If we could tap into a source that could contribute that much to our economy and do it in an environmentally sound way, this allows us to transition to the next generation of energy. Our reality is that we are years and decades away from really being able to utilize new technologies because they are yet very much on the drawing board. Or if they’re out in a pilot project they’re still extremely costly. So I look at what we would be able to benefit from such a major find as what we believe ANWR holds for us, to be able to bridge this transition from the traditional fuel to the next generation. You’re going to have to get it from somewhere, and we believe ANWR holds part of that key.
