Boxer To Oil Companies: "Use It Or Lose It!"
08/05/2008
ktvu.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- At a news briefing in San Jose Tuesday, California Senator Barbara Boxer said the U.S. policy on domestic oil drilling should be one of ''use it or lose it.''
''American companies hold a lot of leases that they haven't drilled on. 65 Million acres of leased, inactive federal land, could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil,'' said Senator Boxer.
''That would double U.S. oil production. Let me make it clear: This is what they're sitting on.''
Boxer said those lands already under lease to oil companies should be tapped before pristine coastal waters off California and other states are drilled.
In the wide-ranging news conference, Senator Boxer also said that this year, Congress did log a number of successes, despite frequent stand-offs between Democrats and Republicans.
She said Congress passed legislation to address the mortgage crisis, a huge farm bill that contained protections for California specialty crops, a G.I. Bill of Rights, the Economic Stimulus package, and a bill to save Medicare.