Smith supports oil drilling in Alaska

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By JOSH FUNK / The Associated Press

OMAHA — U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith is spending the weekend in Alaska to investigate whether allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a good idea.

Smith said Saturday that he believes America needs to pursue all the energy sources available to meet its needs.

“We have such a great need for all the energy sources that we can get, especially domestically,’’ said Smith, who represents western Nebraska’s 3rd House District.

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Adrian Smith

Adrian Smith

Smith said allowing offshore oil exploration and drilling in ANWR could help meet the nation’s needs while alternative energy sources, like cellulosic ethanol, are developed.

Energy experts have said the extraction of the refuge’s likely 11 billion barrels of oil would send a signal of increased U.S. interest in domestic energy production. However, in the long run, it likely would not significantly affect oil or gasoline prices.

The Energy Information Administration this year said that oil from the refuge would have only a small effect on global oil prices. Assuming Congress approved its opening, it would take about a decade before the refuge could start producing.

Smith went to Alaska with a group of his fellow Republican Congressmen.

“It’s so important that we look into more than just one single source of energy,’’ Smith said. But he said U.S energy policy should be friendly to petroleum.

The idea of drilling in the refuge is popular in Alaska, where roughly 85 percent of the state’s general fund comes from oil royalties, and hearty support comes from both sides of the aisle.

But environmentalists have opposed drilling in the wildlife refuge because of concerns that it would ruin a key habitat for caribou, polar bears, whales and other wildlife.