In 1995 congress voted to drill for oil in Alaska’s Artic National Wildlife Refuge, (ANWR), but president Clinton vetoed the act. Drilling in ANWR would have added about one million barrels per day to our daily supply, a figure accepted all across the political spectrum.

What would one million barrels per day be worth to America today? What would the average price of gasoline be? 

Now that water is too deep for me, but certain experts, we’ll name at least one later, testifying in opposition to ANWR drilling, claimed that the one-million daily raise in barrels available for our use would have lowered prices at the pump by only one penny per gallon.

Our oil expert, who testified to the one-penny figure, is the senior Democrat senator from New York,  Chuck Schumer. Jot those figures in the corner of your mind. Schumer joined other experts to testify that such a tiny reduction is not a worthy goal for the harm to Mother Nature our resident experts say would take place if we drill in ANWR. 

The part of nature most cited for harm is the porcupine caribou whose range includes ANWR. (Never mind that after experts had predicted their demise, the caribou increased nearly fourfold after the much-maligned Alaskan pipeline was completed.)

Now Schumer is back at work demanding a solution to the oil crisis as he sees it. Schumer and his cohorts on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are blaming the oil companies; how dare they make money in their business. Why, they are making record profits, let’s tax them into the poor house.

All this outrage came as the senators grilled oil company executives about profits, profits which by the way are less on a percentage basis than the majority of American industry. Not content to blame only the oil companies, Schumer took the opportunity to blame the Executive Branch for what is to a large degree a Congressional failure. In doing so he demanded that so-called friends of the Bush administration, sell us an extra one million barrels of oil each day.

Hey, there’s that number again. One million barrels per day.  Must be something magic about it.

Remember Schumer’s oath that one million barrels per day equals one cent per gallon? Good, now read the following words by the New York senator. “If Saudi Arabia were to increase its production by one million barrels per day, that translates to a reduction of 20 percent to 25 percent in the world price of crude oil….In turn that would lower the price of gasoline between 13 percent and 17 percent, or by more than 62 cents off the expected summer regular-grade price.”

Now let’s see. One million barrels per day is worth just one cent per gallon if it comes from American soil, ANWR, but is worth 62 cents per gallon if we buy it from a foreign land — land that supports with millions of dollars, terrorist forces who have sworn to destroy us.

Sadly, I can see where Sen. Schumer is coming from, why he is willing to swear one thing today and the opposite tomorrow with little fear of retribution. That’s because he’s just one of many of our politicians willing to sacrifice their integrity and the superior lifestyles this country had engendered for its people on the altar of political power and perks.

taylormadetalk@yahoo.com.