Sodrel Favors ANWR Drilling

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(UNDATED) - 9th Congressional District candidate Mike Sodrel is part of a group of Republican congressional challengers visiting Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The northern coastal area of "ANWAR" is roughly the size of the state of Delaware and is the center of the debate over U.S. oil exploration. The Department of the Interior estimates that perhaps 16 billion barrels of oil are recoverable from the land.

Before his visit, the former congressman was on the fence about drilling for oil in the region. Now after the four-day visit he says it's the right thing to do.

Sodrel says native American Eskimos retain the mineral rights to the land and favor oil drilling, but for years the federal government has not allowed it. Sodrel says if the land had been privately owned, the native people would have allowed drilling 15 or 20 years ago.

Former Congressman Sodrel favors a combination of energy conservation and domestic oil drilling with new technology to curb the nation's use of global oil. He blames bureaucratic red tape for doubling the length of time before oil production could begin in ANWAR. Without it, Mike Sodrel says oil would start flowing from the region in five years. But Sodrel says it will take a generation to replace our dependence on crude oil, natural gas and coal.

Mike Sodrel is again challenging incumbent Democrat Baron Hill for the 9th district congressional seat in November's election.

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