Fox News Channel "Your World" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MR. MCSHANE: We're going to move on now and talk about Newt Gingrich's group American Solutions delivering a petition today to members of Congress. Now, this petition was signed by more than 1.3 million Americans, and they're demanding action to lower gas prices. The Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accepted the petition, and Senator McConnell joins us now.

What are these folks saying to you, Senator?

SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, they're saying that we should, as they put it, drill here and drill now. The way I would put it is we need to find more and use less. We need to do both.

MR. MCSHANE: All right. You probably heard our discussion we were just having and many others have had the discussion about the timing of the drilling question. Senator Obama's come out, for example, and said, you know, we can't drill our way out of the problem. This is too long-a-term solution to something that needs to have a shorter-term answer. What's the answer that you have for that?

SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, the answer is we need to start. Just because you won't have apples until the fall doesn't mean you don't plant apples today. The American public gets it. They understand that none of these solutions are immediate. But as your previous guest suggested, she was absolutely right, the futures market would respond favorably to any indication that the world's third largest oil producer which is us are going to do something to tap into this mountain of supply that we have. Right now, 85 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf, off limits.

MR. MCSHANE: Right.

SEN. MCCONNELL: This new Congress just last year put in a moratorium on oil shale development. We have enough oil shale in three states in the West that would triple -- triple -- the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. The American public is saying, get started now.

MR. MCSHANE: On the Outer Continental Shelf, there's an argument to be made, or it has been made whether it should be or not, that 68 million acres, you know, are available and the oil companies aren't drilling there. Why not?

SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, another way of looking at it is 85 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf is off limits.

MR. MCSHANE: Right.

SEN. MCCONNELL: Every hole does not produce something. And much of the area that's currently available they've tried, they've drilled dry holes. I mean, the point is, why would you want to have 85 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf off limits? The vast majority of the acreage that's potentially available is currently off limits. The president took the step yesterday to remove the executive branch moratorium. Now it's up to us. We need to act now.

MR. MCSHANE: Act now, all right. Senator McConnell, thank you very much. We appreciate you coming on and explaining your position with us.

SEN. MCCONNELL: Thank you.

END.

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