Salazar: Drilling Not Key to Energy Crisis

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said Saturday off-shore drilling will not result in “energy independence” for the United States.

The U.S. lawmaker said during the weekly Democratic radio address that with the United States controlling such a small portion of the world’s oil supplies, a focus on drilling would not alleviate the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

“We consume 25 percent of the world’s oil, but we have less than 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves,” he said. “We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence.”

Salazar said instead of remaining focused on oil-based energy, the United States should refocus its energy efforts on alternative sources.

“We need to replace the oil we import from countries that don’t like us with alternative energy sources that we produce right here at home,” he said. “Biofuels. Wind. Solar. Hydrogen. Geothermal. Clean Coal. American energy, American jobs.”

The Colorado senator used the address to challenge top Republicans such as presidential candidate John McCain, a senator from Arizona, to join a bipartisan movement toward such energy efforts.

“Republicans have to decide whether they just want to talk about our energy problems on the campaign trail, or whether they will work with Democrats to actually solve them,” Salazar said.