jillithian | (no subject)

I received a form email from my senator today regarding ANWR:

Dear Mrs. [snip]:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me concerning drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). You will be pleased to know I have voted five times to protect ANWR from drilling, and I continue to oppose any effort to open up ANWR for this purpose.

As you may know, the most recent vote to open ANWR for oil development came during debate of the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 (S. 2284). On May 7, 2008, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered an amendment (S. Amdt. 4720) that would open up ANWR for oil development. With my opposition, the amendment failed by a vote of 42-56.

During my campaign for the United States Senate, I promised I would not allow drilling for oil in ANWR. I am proud to say that I have kept my pledge, and I will continue to keep it. In fact, I believe drilling in ANWR is a distraction from finding real solutions to America's energy needs.

Instead, we need to focus on rising gas prices, greenhouse gas production, and our dependence on foreign oil, which is why I worked hard to pass the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (H.R. 6) that became law on December 19, 2007. This legislation includes historic increases in the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard and the renewable fuels standard (RFS), as well as many of the provisions from the Dependence Reduction through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy (DRIVE) Act I coauthored.

With 17 ethanol and 3 biodiesel plants and counting, Minnesota has led the way on renewable fuels. As a co-chair of the Senate Biofuels Caucus, I have brought Minnesota solutions to Washington. I proudly supported the RFS increase in H.R. 6 which would require a domestic renewable fuel production level of 8.5 billion gallons in 2008, increasing to 36 billion gallons by 2022. This mandate also makes a historic commitment to develop cellulosic ethanol by requiring an increasing portion of renewable fuels be advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, starting at 3 billion gallons in 2016 and increasing to 21 billion gallons by 2022.

Thank you once again for contacting me. If I may be of further assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,
Norm Coleman
United States Senate