Off Shore Drilling

Tuesday morning's appearance by Rep. Nancy Boyda on the hit Topeka radio program hosted by Jim Cates brought up some complex discussion with regard to our nation's energy policy.

You may listen to the audio here but the specific issues text is below

Nancy Boyda: We have the ability to drill as we speak right now. There are 68 million acres of federal lands, onshore, and I forget the number of millions of acres of land offshore that are already open to drilling.

Caller: Are they viable?
NB: Yes, and they are being leased. The vast majority of federal lands are already open to public drilling.

Jim Cates: Why are you trying to protect ANWR? There's nothing there. It's a barren wasteland.

NB: That's not a bad question, but we've got 68 million acres that are already leased. There's more that isn't leased available. There's 68 million acres that are leased and not being drilled on.

JC: Everybody wants to drill in ANWR because we know definitively that's where the oil is. Not everybody, because I know liberals don't want us to drill there, but what are they trying to protect? Going back to the Alaskan pipeline, which has proven to be so environmentally friendly, why in God's name are we trying to stop drilling in ANWR?

NB: I have said that if you want, put ANWR in the mix. It's more of a symbol. But the people that have stopped the drilling offshore, they make it sound like it's Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats (who oppose drilling). Jeb Bush, on offshore drilling, said absolutely not. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, said over my dead body are you going to drill off our shores.

Let me state what my energy policy is. My energy policy has always been that we need a three-legged stool. Domestic oil and drilling has to be a part of it. Coal has to be a part of it, but absolutely we have to look forward, and we have to be aggressive with alternative fuels. I have said that we have to be aggressive in researching nuclear energy.

For more information on drilling here is the clip from the CNN explination


And the recent discussion from Sunday's Meet the Press