Shea-Porter wants oil companies to drill on leased land

On a conference call with reporters U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester) said oil companies should drill on 68 million acres of land the government has already approved for drilling.

"I am calling for domestic drilling; I want to make that perfectly clear. We have short-term and long-term solutions here," Shea-Porter said. "The issue is we've got 68 million acres of land that the oil companies are holding permits on and they're not drilling."

Shea-Porter said oil companies are not drilling on the land because they are using profits to buy more company stock and reward executives.

"They know that's something there. You know the argument is that they don't know, but why are they continuing to renew their permits if they don't believe they have it (oil) there? There's a lot of reasons to worry here, but I do believe that this ‘use it or lose it' would push them into drilling."

The freshmen Congresswoman is one of 61 co-sponsors of the "Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act," which would require companies to drill on land they hold leases for or face a penalty. The bill is nicknamed "use it or lose it" and failed to pass the U.S. House in late June.

When asked about her potential rivals supporting drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge Shea-Porter said they should read a government study on the impact of ANWR.

"I'd say they probably should read the official energy consensus from the U.S. government, the Energy Information Administration, where it talks about ANWR and talks about how production could being in 2018 and how ultimately it would have a very, very small impact on world oil prices."

Former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) and former Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen (R-Manchester) are competing against one another for the opportunity to face off against Shea-Porter in November.

Shea-Porter also said Americans should begin to conserve energy and energy companies should invest in renewable energy sources.