A new national poll released by PACWEST Communications of Portland, Oregon shows Americans overwhelmingly favor gaining access to American oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR.
In the face of soaring gasoline prices pushed by crude oil prices hitting $75 per barrel, nearly 60 percent of those questioned said they favor oil production in ANWR.
“These are very strong results,” said Paul Phillips, PACWEST’s president. “Congress has failed previously in numerous attempts to pass legislation opening ANWR’s vast oil and gas reserves. Hopefully, they will now be more responsive to the will of the people and address the people’s energy needs.”
On numerous occasions, the powerful environmental lobby has defeated attempts to open ANWR, claiming that production there would harm the environment. However, as Phillips points out, it had no such qualms when the Clinton administration proposed oil production on another section of Alaska’s North Slope.
In fact, Mr. Clinton’s Department of Energy published an extensive report in 1999 entitled “Environmental Benefits of...