Craig Williams to Visit Arctic Tundra, ANWR

Press Release

Craig Williams to Visit Arctic Tundra, ANWR

Republican Congressional candidate Craig Williams announced today that he will be taking a trip to Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from July 13th to July 18th to raise awareness about the availability of domestic energy sources and opportunities to reduce the United States' dependence on foreign oil. Williams is running for Congress in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, which includes portions of Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties.

"With gas prices at an all time high, we need to take steps now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Craig Williams, who held a press conference at a local gas station in Drexel Hill to announce his trip. "We have energy resources available to us domestically that can cut our dependence on foreign oil and provide a bridge to tomorrow when we can more heavily rely on renewable energy resources such as hydro-electric, solar, and wind power."

Williams noted that the discussion about oil recovery from ANWR related to a section that makes up less than one half of one percent of the total size of the refuge. Williams said that allowing environmentally responsible recovery of oil in this small section of the refuge will allow the United States to boost its domestic oil production by as much as 20 percent, drastically reducing our dependence on oil from the Middle East and reducing our foreign trade imbalance by as much as $327 billion a year.

"We send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to foreign nations for oil," said Williams. "By accessing our own domestic energy resources at ANWR, we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil while providing ourselves with a bridge to tomorrow when we can more heavily rely on renewable energy resources. We need a two-pronged energy policy that invests heavily in renewable energy resources while also allowing us to access more of our domestic energy resources in the short-term over the next 20 to 30 years."

While Williams acknowledged that oil recovery from ANWR will take time, he predicted that opening up this small section of ANWR to oil production would have an immediate impact on gas prices.

"Gas prices are being driven by OPEC and speculators, both of whom believe we do not have the political will to tap our own unused energy resources," said Williams. "By opening up just 2,000 acres in an area that is nearly four times the size of the state of New Jersey, we will send a clear message to the speculators that we are on a road to energy self-sufficiency. Speculation that we will be forever beholden to OPEC will no longer be a safe bet for investors and we should see an immediate impact on gas prices."

As part of his trip, Williams will visit Prudhoe Bay, the Arctic Slope known as ANWR, and the national oil reserves in Alaska. He will also receive briefings from energy experts, state and local officials from Anchorage and the Arctic Circle, and visit with native residents of the Arctic Circle. Williams will be accompanied by four other Congressional challengers, including Luke Puckett and Mike Soderel of Indiana, Chris Lien of South Dakota, and, and Paul Starke of Wisconsin.

Last week, Williams unveiled the framework for his comprehensive plan to meet our long-term and short-term domestic energy needs. That plan, which he calls "A Bridge to Tomorrow," provides the United States with access to domestic energy resources until we can implement sustainable, affordable, and more widespread renewable energy policies and technologies.

"We need to explore every existing energy resource available to us and simultaneously use American ingenuity to phase in renewable forms of energy," said Williams. "ANWR is a vital part of an overarching policy we need to embrace to reduce our dependency on foreign oil."

Williams' "Bridge to Tomorrow" plan includes:

* exploring the availability of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the coastal shelf of the United States, oil shale in the Rockies, and building new refineries;

* increasing the recovery of domestic natural gas;

* utilizing new environmentally-friendly clean-burning coal technologies for energy production;

* increasing the use of nuclear power, which the United States Navy has been utilizing to power its vessels for four decades;

* increasing conservation and improving energy efficiency; and

* funding renewable energy research.

Williams will be separately detailing each aspect of his energy plan in the coming weeks.

Craig Williams is running for Congress the 7th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, comprising most of Delaware County and parts of Montgomery and Chester Counties. Williams is a former federal prosecutor, Marine combat veteran, and former active duty Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He lives in Concord Township, Delaware County, with his wife Jennifer, daughter and two step-children. The 7th District is his home - where he lives, where his kids go to school, where he pays taxes, where he attends church, and where he intends to spend the rest of his life.

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