I wrote both Senators Voinovich and Dewine with my feelings on the ANWR Defense bill rider. I've gotten responses to all of my messages to Dewine, and never a response from Voinovich. The messages are the same, wether they be electronic or snail mail, regardless of the political topic.
January 10, 2006
Dear Aaron:
Over the past several months, a healthy debate has occurred in our country about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I appreciated knowing your views on this important issue.
As you know, after a great deal of thought, I voted against drilling in the ANWR. I thought the risks outweighed the potential benefits. The United States will never be petroleum independent-we simply do not have the oil. Department of Energy (DOE) figures show that we are currently 56 percent dependent on foreign oil. The DOE estimates that the ANWR would reach full production by the year 2020, and even then, it would only decrease our dependence on foreign oil by about 2%.
We desperately need a comprehensive energy policy, and the Administration should get a lot of credit for putting a comprehensive package together. The energy bill that the Senate passed this Congress addressed important issues, such as electricity reform, nuclear and hydroelectric plant regulations, energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, new gasoline content standards and many others. These, in particular, are more important to the energy needs of Ohioans than drilling in Alaska.
While I oppose drilling in the ANWR, I do not believe drilling should be restricted on all federal land. The federal government is the caretaker of millions of acres, which undoubtedly contain oil and gas reservoirs, and I support the President's efforts to identify potential energy sources on our federal lands. In less fragile ecosystems, oil and gas exploration can coexist with the natural environment. I believe that it is our duty to find these sources and then carefully assess the costs versus the benefits in each case.
Again, thank you for sharing your concerns. If you have any further questions or comments please feel free to contact me.
Very respectfully yours,
MIKE DEWINE
United States Senator
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2 comments:
I love getting boilerplate responses sent out by staffers when I write my legislators. I especially love to "mix it up", or combine two current issues into one letter. Oddly, I always get a reply for only one of the issues. ;-)
Maybe Voinovich just hasn't learned that he only needs to draft a reply once per topic, and send it to everyone who writes him on that issue (ragardless of which side of an issue they are on). Or, maybe he's replying to everyone personally, in which case, you may still get a response in 15 years, give or take.
Boilerplate is fine by me, as long as it has my name in the right place I still consider it 'nice' haa haa.
I'll let you know about Voinovich in 15 years. I'm implementing a listener service in my brain right now...
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