Thursday, April 27, 2006
The GOP Obsession with ANWR
The headline news: Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks
Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.The real goal of this amendment didn't make it into the headline:
However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.Message to Republicans: No matter how high the price of gasoline goes, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will still have only a six-month supply of oil under it, and it will still take years of development to get it out. The effect on the current price of gas— I was about to say the effect would be zero, but then I realized the price would probably increase even more, to pay for the cost of research and development in the ANWR. So will you people please just give it up and get over it? That white whale you've been chasing doesn't live in the Alaskan tundra.
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