"Hello Friends of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and champions of an energy policy that strengthens America while protecting our wilderness areas.  We have gathered here today outside the Capitol building to pull Congress back from the brink of the extreme and unnecessary action of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

On August 8th, President Bush stood beside the Republican leaders in Congress, as he signed the Energy Bill, and
proclaimed that we finally had a national energy policy. Now, barely a month later, the Republican Energy Bill has
been revealed to be an utter failure.

It doesn’t save energy, it doesn’t reduce our dependence on oil, it doesn’t free us of polluted air in our cities and asthma in our lungs.The President’s energy policy is the equivalent of throwing the furniture on the fire to keep warm – and if the price of oil keeps going up, that’s exactly what people will be doing to get heat this winter!

We are here today because we cannot permit the Republicans in Congress to forever destroy one of our nation's greatest natural treasures in order to realize that they have made yet another mistake. They haven’t realized it yet. Yesterday, Majority Leader Tom Delay said that “it is time to go back and revisit” all those measures that they wanted to pass in the Energy bill but were too controversial to get any support.

SO YOU CAN SEE, THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP DOESN’T LEARN FROM ITS MISTAKES –QUITE THE CONTRARY -- IT WANTS TO MAKE THEM EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE, DANGEROUS, AND BREATHTKINGLY INEFFECTIVE.

WE ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE PLUPERFECT VIOLATION OF THE FIRST LAW OF HOLES –WHICH IS, WHEN YOU’RE IN ONE, STOP DRILLING!

Republicans argue that we need to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But the Bush Administration's own figures show that EVEN IF WE DRILL IN THE ARCTIC REFUGE, OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL WILL STILL RISE OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS.

Republicans argue that we need to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because we need to take action now in order to alleviate our country's energy problems, but the Bush Administration's own figures show that WE WON’T SEE A DROP OF OIL FROM THE REFUGE FOR 10 YEARS.

Republicans argue that letting the oil companies drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will reduce gas prices. But the Bush Administration's own figures show that TEN YEARS FROM NOW THIS MIGHT REDUCE GAS PRICES BY ABOUT ONE CENT!

That’s right – In response to a price increase of more than a dollar per gallon, they propose to save you all of one penny per gallon one decade from today.

Meanwhile, the Energy bill the Republicans enacted back in August is going to INCREASE gasoline prices by 3 to 8 cents a gallon, according to President Bush’s own Department of Energy!

WHAT A DEAL…President Roosevelt gave the country the “New Deal” – Now President Bush want to give the country a “raw deal.”

The reality is that the Republican leaders are giving America a false choice. We do not have to choose between drilling in the Arctic Refuge or being at the mercy of oil from the Middle East. Drilling in the Refuge is completely unnecessary when we could improve the average fuel economy of cars, minivans and SUV's by just 3 miles a gallon and save more oil within 10 years than we could ever produce from the Arctic Refuge.

When I was a boy, there was a show with a little red-headed boy named Sherman and his dog Mr. Peabody and they used to study fractured history by going into the Way Back Machine. Well, George Bush and I are the same age and I think that he actually took the show literally. We are now in the Way Back Machine, back at the same fuel efficiency standards that we had in 1981.

In fact, yesterday, NASA announced that we are going to send a man to the moon again by 2018 but President Bush won’t support a substantial increase in the fuel economy of our nation's cars and SUV's by that same year. What’s the problem? It's not rocket science – it is auto mechanics!

Moreover, if we allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge, it will violate 40 years of established precedent and be a green light to Republicans and oil companies to select any of our country's other 544 national wildlife refuges as the next target for drilling, as well as off our beaches, in our fishing grounds, and in our wilderness preserves.

We have a responsibility to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge the way God made it -- as a magnificent wilderness – the most untrammeled, untouched, unsurpassed refuge in the nation. Let’s send a message to the people in this Capitol that it is arrogant and immoral to sacrifice this unspoiled treasure when we have better ways
to meet our energy needs, and no other place with such environmental significance on Earth.

The walls of the Capitol are very thick, so you have to be very loud if you want to send a message.

Should the Congress approve drilling in the Arctic Refuge? (NO)

Should this decision be made as a backdoor budgetary maneuver? (NO)

Is there a better way to solve our energy problems?? (YES)

Are going to keep on fighting until we win? (YES)

This is the time, this is the place, you are the people."