"We'd like to see it developed," David J. O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive of ChevronTexaco Corp., said in a recent interview. "It's just another opportunity to meet a consumer need from within the country and reduce imports by a comparable amount."
Environmental groups, however, said rising oil costs and the debate over the refuge highlights the need for developing alternative sources of energy and boosting minimum automobile mileage standards.
"Drilling there would not put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil, would do nothing to strengthen our national security, and would not save consumers a dime at the pump," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "But the harm to wildlife and this spectacular wilderness would be permanent and irreparable."
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. benchmark crude for April delivery is just below its record of more than $55 a barrel. Gasoline prices are about $2 a gallon nationally and expected to rise in coming months. Increasing demand in China and elsewhere, along with increasingly tight supplies, are pushing prices higher.
Some Democrats called on the Bush administration yesterday to release some oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve and defer new deliveries as a way to force down prices. But the White House said the reserve should be used only for emergencies.
In his speech, Bush called on Congress to approve his wide-ranging energy plan, which has been stalled for four years. That plan includes calls for conservation and increased production.
The president described energy as a national security issue because so much of the nation's oil comes from the Middle East. But he also said rising prices have become a concern for families and small businesses. "Higher prices at the gas pump and rising home heating bills, and the possibility of blackouts, are legitimate concerns for all Americans," he said. "And all these uncertainties about energy supply are a drag on our economy."
VandeHei reported from Columbus, Ohio.
