Kerry pledges to fight Bush on Alaska oil

[emad]

Senator urges battle for environment against energy plan
Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief

Friday, March 11, 2005

Washington -- Sen. John Kerry pledged Thursday to lead the fight against President Bush's proposal to drill for oil in the Alaska wilderness, sounding a call to arms for environmentalists to combat the administration's energy policies.

"The only mandate this administration has is for unity, to find common ground,'' Kerry said in an interview with The Chronicle. "The American people did not vote to drill in ANWR.''

Kerry characterized the president's plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a "phony, absolutely fraudulent offering,'' which vastly overstates the potential to reduce gas prices or the nation's reliance on foreign oil. He called it the "ideological linchpin'' to a broader, more reckless environmental policy.

"They need to be called out on it, and I intend to do it,'' Kerry said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/11/MNGG4BNVOD1.DTL

[adigal]

1. Go, Kerry, make him look like the * he is n/t

[Why Syzygy]

2. it doesn't "vastly overstate"

It outright lies.

[Goldeneye]

3. What can he do?

I read about this a few days ago before the pubs filibuster proofed it. Short of calling for massive protests...what can Kerry do?

[emad]

4. Keep the debate live and public.

Shrub may be looking confident and blustering his way through the sound bites. But that's just PR.

[jayfish]

5. Yeah, I See Him...

on TV all the time, keeping things public. :eyes:

Jay

[blm]

12. He's had a few press conferences on issues but the media won't cover them.

The GOP contols most of the corporate media and they won't do any reports on Kerry's press conferences or press releases.

Kerry fought off the ANWR drilling before, and he can probably do it again. There are SOME Repubs in the Senate who will side with him. It's a matter of keeping the Dems from voting with the GOP.

[bowens43]

6. There really is no way to stop it.

There will be no filibuster and the reugs overwhelmingly support it. They only need 51 votes.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Stevens of Alaska on Senate floor hawking opening up of ANWR.

Feingold's amendment to strip ANWR out of the budget bill failed on a party-line vote in the budget committee last night.

No one knows if they do have the 51 votes, as there are moderate Northeastern Republicans who voted against ANWR in the past. Former president Jimmy Carter is personally lobbying Senator Mary Landrieu, who has voted with the Repubublicans to open up ANWR to drilling in the past.

[Goldeneye]

17. I was watching that.

He's such a piece of crap.

[bowens43]

32. Well I guess all we can do is keep bombarding

our Senators and Representatives with calls, emails, faxes and letters.

[jdj]

36. the oil companies are sounding more glum about this (global warming?)

suddenly the oil companies are sounding lukewarm about the prospects of more drilling in Alaska...BP just dropped out of the major lobbing group about a month ago.

I think they are citing the rapidly changing enviroment in Alaska as why, (on the surface, the real reason may be they know the numbers are overstated). I think that they are realizing that with the permafrost melting they can't predict what landscape they will be drilling on or in for any length of time, and that all of the millions (billions) of dollars of equipment they set up there may sink within just 2 or three years.

[karynnj]

9. Intensify what he has been doing

He has written editorials in some outdoors/environmental magazines, calling on people to become politically active on this issue (even mentioning the mobilization on this issue and others in the 60s). he has a petition and he's asking people to contact their Congress people.

If he can get a few more Senators, he might be able to do this. I guess what he needs are Rep Senators from states where the environment is a huge issue.

[marcologico]

7. strong stuff! (n/t)

[Mass]

8. Kerry is a leader on the issue

He has been fighting for environmental issues since the 1970s and will continue to fight for them, whether there is a filibuster or not.

I am afraid that some Democrats defect, but at the same time, there should be ways to get some Republicans there. Chafee and Snowe are strong on these issues as well.

[hyphenate]

10. Kerry has done this before

and succeeded. It's one of the reasons I believed in him so strongly as a candidate.

[Mr.Green93]

11. W e may lose on Alaskan oil

but we need to mobilize now to stop oil shale exploitation. We have six trillion barrels of oil shale. To get to it will require strip mining hundreds of thousands of square miles of land.

[AP]

13. Incidentally, this is part of the reason Tony Knowles lost in Alaska.

In Alaska, everybody wants to drill Anwar. Kerry was so opposed to it that voters punished not only Kerry but they also punished Knowles for it.

[EFerrari]

19. They've already built the roads needed to haul the oil out. n/t

[Toots]

21. That isn't the reason Knowles lost... The reason is Alsakans are stupid...

They constantly vote against their own interests.... Most major industry such as mining, oil, timber, even fishing uses a labor force made up mostly from outside the state. The people of the state actually lose revenues, but not the politicians... They have huge campaign war chests from a state of only six hundred thousand people. Most money to the politicians is from outside sources with outside interests. Alaska is a very red state....

[AP]

22. It was hard for Knowles to make headway because Kerry was so vocally...

...against drilling in ANWAR, whereas most Democrats in AK are for it.

[Toots]

23. Yes and Ted Stevens made a last minute plea saying he would lose his

high seat as Chairman and the Senate could lose majority status and Alaska could be in the hands of people like Hillery and Ted Kennedy, and yes John Kerry... Stupid is as stupid does....

[alarimer]

25. They are only for it because they get money from it

A big old check once a year takes precedence over environmental protection. Greedy assholes.

[sandnsea]

33. Alternative Energy

You're right, Alaskans can't cash in on it. If there were no checks involved, Alaskans might put their health first.

[jdj]

37. everybody who?

it seems to vary from location to location, some native tribes are for it while tribes that depend on the caribou migrations are ferociously opposed to it.

And don't worry so about the voters. These companies are seeing they've been lied to and they ain't gonna wanna assume the risks associated with global warming in that area for the pittance of oil that is there.

[Dr Ron]

15. More links

This is also on Light Up the Darkness with the post including links to more material, including multiple articles, if anyone wants further information:

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=515

[woosh]

16. Why do I get the sense that Kerry is playing coyboy a little bit?

Outside the plans of the larger democratic agenda set by the minority leader and the DNC.

[Dr Ron]

18. More than one star is needed

It's a good thing for Senators such as Kerry to take public stands, especially when consistent with the aims of the rest of the party. It shows a stronger, more diverse party to the public, and increases chances for media coverage when more people are speaking out.

Kerry is hardly the only one. We're also hearing a lot from Hillary among others, and I'm sure this will increase as various Senators postion themselves for a 2008 run.

[karynnj]

20. Cowboy? - Well, at least he knows how to ride a horse- unlike Bush

Seriously, I would hope that Senators DO take independent actions. Kerry fought this battle several years ago and environmental issues are something he has worked on at least since 1983 as MA LT Governor. Kerry talked about this when running. What is wrong with him taking this on as I think he is on the Senate committee that deals with environmental issues? (Sticking it in the budget bill is a Republican trick. I would be disappointed if he did or said nothing.

I don't think all the Democrats should follow in lock step behind Reid, Kerry, or anyone else.

[blm]

29. Kerry led the last fight on ANWR, too. This is not unusual.

I wonder why so many know so little about Kerry even now.

[zara]

24. I think we need a man like Kerry in the Senate....

to stand up for the Elk!
But seriously, I support Kerry here but think the guy is so tone-deaf politically--well maybe exceedingly cautious is better phrasing. Let's keep him in the Senate. Run someone else in 2008!

[blm]

27. "Exceedingly cautious" proves you are don't know Kerry's record.

Cautious politicians do not investigate and expose more government corruption than ANY other lawmaker in modern history.

Cautious politicians do not submit the FIRST gay protection legislation EVER in the Senate.

Cautious politicians do not TESTIFY in Congress for gays to be allowed to serve openly in the military.

Kerry was not cautious on the terror issue and all he learned from investigating BCCI. He wrote a book about the international funding of global terror in 1996, before Al Qaeda was even officially formed.

Cautious politicians DID NOT EVEN READ KERRY'S BOOK.

[zara]

43. old news; what did he do in the campaign 04 that was not cautious

I don't know when he submitted gay protection legislation, and I applaud all the things you site, but the fact is, he did not run his presidential campaign with the bravado of bcci, gays in the military, or as a whistleblower of government wrongdoing. Jeez he ran away from his greatest achievement, as a young man pointing out how do you ask someone to be the last to die for a lie. If he had thrown caution to the wind we might have had a president here. But no, we had a man who voted for it before voting against it, who never discussed his opposition to vietnam, who did not throw fate to the wind. Howard Dean would have at least done that. I admire John Kerry. And I would vote for him over a Republican in 08. But I sure hope he does not run because it will be another tepid milque toast campaign.

[blm]

52. No. That's how the media filtered his campaign.

Anyone with HALF a brain knows that ALL Senators vote FOR or AGAINST bills that are alternatives to the majority.

NO Democrat will win without exposing the GOP controlled media first.

You can't name ONE Dem who hasn't been defined by the GOP media on a national scale, yet. Hell, most of the country thinks it's Clinton's fault that 9-11 happened, and even Clinton hasn't been able to get ahead of that storyline, even with his book tour AND the 9-11 commission hearings.

Look at the beating that ALL the Dem nominees took during the primary and since.

[Conscious Confucius]

26. Atta Boy, John. Do it for the bears! NT

[blm]

28. He's doing it for basic humanity.

.

[primavera]

30. Like the way he fought last year's voter disenfranchisement?

Oh dear, Alaska had better get ready to get reamed.

[nolabels]

31. Exactly

The whole thing might have been rigged but what he did when he dropped out like that was just totally disrespectful to the rest of us, plain and simple.

[Pinboy]

34. Is that a cheap shot?

I realize you're just being flip, but I have to give Kerry a lot of credit for consistently taking a strong stand on protecting ANWR.

[nolabels]

38. The ANWR thing is just another ruse if you ask me

Sort of like the gay marriage ban amendment and privatizing Social Security or even the abortion laws. The GOP cadre, think tanks and policy makers don't really give a crap about these issues really.

Other than them knowing it's a soft spot to keep ever body busy and flailing about. They have all these things going on why they are devising ways to steal everybody blind or keep them in indentured servitude.

Really got a keep an eye them folks, study what they do and who they are really trying to work for.

[goodboy]

35. Kerry also pledged to fight for every vote...look how that turned out.

[politicasista]

39. Please stop

The s--t is getting kind of old.

[LittleClarkie]

40. How did it turn out? Glad you asked.

Well, he still has a lawsuit pending in Ohio. So looking at how that turned out I'd say it turned out pretty good, pledge-wise if not results-wise yet. He tends to have staying power in that regard. When he says he's gonna do it, he does it. Perhaps not on everyone's preferred timeline. But he does it.

It's ten years later and he's still fighting for BCCI disenfranchised too. And they can't even vote for him. So if it takes him a while in Ohio, I have faith he'll stick it out until then. Go McTigue!

Thanks for your post, by the way. Good reminder.

[leesa]

41. Like he pledged to make every vote count?

[LittleClarkie]

42. Yes indeed! Just like that! Glad you brought it up

Just like he still has a lawsuit in Ohio, he will continue to fight the good fight. Just like when he put his two cents in with BCCI in England in December, he will continue to look out for people interests. Just like he said he'd fight for health care, and so he is. Just like that.

Thank you for your support.

[rodeodance]

44. we all have to chose our battles. Health and the enviroment are his for

now. I, for one, am sure glad he is making noise about his plan for health care for kids and now the enviroment.

[rodeodance]

45. he istrying to make connections to our everyday lives GReat!!

.......Kerry acknowledged the difficulty of turning environmental issues into voting priorities, and said Democrats must do a better job of connecting broad -- and often complex -- environmental issues to everyday life.

"Environment has become a term that a lot of people don't even understand, and they see it in impersonal, distant terms,'' Kerry said. "This is about the kids who can't go fishing with their parents and eat the fish they catch. This is about kids who are growing up with serious obesity problems that lead to diabetes.''

He noted the current disparity of attention that environmental issues receive, as compared to matters like steroids, which are the topic of a high- profile congressional hearing next week.

"The fact is a lot more young people will be impacted by asthma and by mercury poisoning and by obesity than will be impacted by steroids, and (we) ought to pay as much attention to those issues,'' Kerry said. .....

[ausiedownunderground]

46. Drill away Americans! If Alaska is the answer then Drill!!

Your potentially dreaming! Me and a lot of people i know, including geo-phys and resevoir people reckon Alaska's not that good by American consumption standards. America's real problem is how much it consumes!!!! Not how much it can drill and supply. No one has found a billion barrel field for 10 years! They use to find these deposits regularly!! Kerry needs to encourage Democrats to convince American's that "Alternative" energy sources might be the best way to spend US tax dollars in the future before your dollar goes the way of the peso!

[Mass]

47. I am sure he will fight as much as he can

However, I am sure it will not be aired by the MSM.

Since the concession speech (and even earlier), he has been attacking the MSM for their coverage of the election (last time being the JFK award at the end of last month) and it is payback time now. They are simply ignoring everything he does (even here in Boston).

Hopefully, the MSM will decide that Boxer can be shown and we will hear from her, but this should not fool us into thinking that Kerry is not fighting for that.

[Flammable Materials]

48. Just like you pledged to fight to make sure every vote counted?

You no longer hold any credibility with me, sir.

[Blue to the bone]

49. I still don't see what's wrong with drilling for oil in Alaska.

I support Chavez' desire to increase production here in Venezuela from 3 million barrels to 5 million barrels per day. Guess how he's going to do that?

[ausiedownunderground]

50. Here in Oz, we would like to know?

Tell us all, how Chavez is going to nearly "double" production???

[Blue to the bone]

51. I didn't say he could do it, I just said I support the effort.

Actually, his Energy Minister just said that they plan to do this within the next five years.

Well, I've been here for over 10 years and have heard the same story every year and yet production remains stuck at about 3 million barrels per day.

Now, if your question was an actual 'how to' question, the only way to do it would be to increase dramatically the country's exploration and production. Existing well simply do not have the production capacity to add much to the daily numbers.

[Name removed]

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