This from the Des Moines Register yesterday. A great opportunity for letters
to the editor!


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Senate rivals disagree on energy policy

By THOMAS BEAUMONT
Register Staff Writer
10/21/2002
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Waukee, Ia. - Differing positions on energy policy between Democratic Sen.
Tom Harkin and Republican Rep. Greg Ganske took on an unusual prominence
Sunday, as the two candidates for U.S. Senate appeared at a forum sponsored
by Des Moines-area Jewish organizations.


The two disagreed on the best way to curb America's reliance on foreign
sources of oil.

Ganske favors tapping a reserve of natural gas by drilling on a small
portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Harkin opposes
drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and favors using more readily available
natural gas sources.

Differences on Medicare prescription drug policy and Social Security reform
have marked earlier discussions between the candidates.

Ganske said natural gas is a clean-burning and plentiful alternative to coal
that could serve as a "transition fuel" to renewable sources. He also said
drilling for the estimated 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be
done in an environmentally sensitive way.

"We're talking about a small footprint of 2,000 acres out of 18 million in
that area," he said. "It would give us a 30-year cushion of natural gas."

Ganske, a four-term U.S. House member from Des Moines, voted for a House
measure last year to open the refuge to exploration. He also recommended
building a pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48 states.

Harkin voted with the majority in the Senate against a measure backed by
President Bush to drill in the refuge.

He said Sunday he sees the need to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska,
but added that there are stores of natural gas in Alaska that wouldn't
require drilling in an area he called "pristine."

"They want to go to ANWAR when we have more natural gas than we know what to
do with," he said. "It doesn't make sense to go to ANWAR to drill for gas."

Ganske said the reserve of natural gas believed to be underneath the refuge
is much larger than any other reserves in Alaska.

Both candidates said they support development and marketing of alternative
energy sources, especially in light of potential war in the Middle East.

Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, took credit for energy
provisions in the farm bill signed into law this year.

Ganske said he helped lead the fight in the House energy bill to ban the
fuel additive MTBE, a rival to corn-based ethanol designed to make fuel burn
more cleanly. Harkin also supports a ban on MTBE. The bill is now awaiting
action in the Senate.

The candidates made their comments on Sunday morning at the Caspe Terrace in
Waukee. The forum was sponsored by Temple B'nai Jeshurun Brotherhood and
Tifereth Israel Synagogue Men's Club.

Ganske appeared first, making comments and answering questions for about an
hour in front of about 60 people at the Waukee Jewish center. Harkin did the
same an hour later.

Ganske, whose latest round of ads attacks Harkin for positions "too extreme
for Iowa," repeated the theme on Sunday. Harkin said the attack goes "beyond
the pale."

Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford, who moderated
the forum, said afterward that Ganske's ad attacking Harkin as extreme
suggests that the Republican's quest for moderate voters has been
interrupted by an apparent need to stoke the GOP base.

"He's trying to nail down elements with Republican constituents he should
have nailed down a long time ago," he said.

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