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FOXX ACTS TO LOWER GAS PRICES BY SUPPORTING DOMESTIC OIL EXPLORATION
Washington, DC,
May 25, 2006
Today, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) took further action to help alleviate the high prices at the pump by voting to pass H.R. 5429, The American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act. This bill will help the United States reduce its dependence on
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Today, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) took further action to help alleviate the high prices at the pump by voting to pass H.R. 5429, The American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act. This bill will help the United States reduce its dependence on foreign oil sources by authorizing oil and gas exploration in Alaska’s Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). “I am very sensitive to the fact that my constituents are burdened by the high gas prices and am doing everything I can to offer them some relief,” said Rep. Foxx. “Today’s bill will increase our domestic oil supplies in an environmentally sound fashion while at the same time creating over a million new jobs. With the political uncertainty in traditional oil producing nations, we cannot continue to depend on foreign sources for our energy needs. While we are waiting on home-grown renewable and reusable fuels to become economically viable, we must also increase our domestic oil supplies.” ANWR could be the single largest conventional energy resource in the United States. It is estimated that 10.4 billion barrels of oil are in the area -- more than double the reserves of Texas. Energy development in ANWR will deliver 1.5 million barrels of oil per day (roughly equivalent to what we import from Saudi Arabia) and could supply 58 years worth of oil to North Carolina alone. Energy exploration in ANWR will be limited to just 2,000 out of 20 million acres and it will take place under the most stringent environmental protection requirements. The amount of land open to exploration is minimal. “If ANWR were the size of a tennis court, the land affected would be the size of a dollar bill,” said Foxx, who visited oil drilling operations in Alaska last year. ### |