Quin Hillyer
Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, also a former U.S. Senator from Michigan, was making the rounds at a convention where the single issue that most energized the delegates was his former bailiwick.
A few hours before former Maryland Lt. Gov. got the whole convention chanting “Drill, baby, drill!,” Abraham was explaining that failure to drill for petroleum a decade ago could have meant “a huge amount, huge, in terms of the money” consumers would be saving now if the drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge had not been vetoed by Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s.
He said between five and 10 percent more oil — one to two million barrels a day — would be available today if ANWR drilling had begun back then. Abraham blamed Democrats in Congress for having sustained Clinton’s veto.
Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is well known for favoring drilling in ANWR, mentioned the same subject in her speech Wednesday night.
