Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) stopped by an event Monday sponsored by PIRG and the Young Republicans to talk about energy policy, among other things. In his speech, he was bullish on the prospects for oil production in the United States.
“If we can get every drop … we’ve got more oil in the U.S. than any country in the world if you include our oil shale,” said Voinovich. “We ought to be in a position where we’re selling oil to the rest of the world.”
The crowd was enthused by this statement, though the oil shale situation is a bit more complicated than Voinovich indicated. Getting at oil shale is an expensive, resource-intensive process that oil companies have, in the past, deemed not worth the effort.
Voinovich authored his own industry-friendly climate bill earlier this year, and has taken issue with GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s call for a cap-and-trade system.
I caught up with Voinovich after his speech to talk about energy and climate legislation:
