Gilmore pledges to fight oil prices

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Former Gov. James S. Gilmore III said yesterday that if elected to the U.S. Senate in November he would push for more domestic oil production to combat high gas prices — a message he hopes will reconnect him and the Republican Party with Democrat-dominated Northern Virginia.

Mr. Gil-more told an audience of about 40 people at the Fairfax Rotary Club that the federal government should explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. "That's what we have to do," he said.

Mr. Gilmore, the presumed Republican front-runner to replace retiring Sen. John Warner, also a Republican, also said it is time to expand offshore drilling — including off Virginia's coast — to tap into the estimated 86 billion barrels of oil in the intercontinental shelf.

"Increased domestic production, I can assure you, is going to make a big difference in the world oil market and gas prices can hopefully be going down," he said. "This affects real people. It affects people in Northern Virginia seriously, where gas prices are usually a little higher up here."

Gas prices in Virginia hit a record high yesterday. A gallon of regular fuel was selling for $3.51 on average, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Mr. Gilmore pledged to work with both Republicans and Democrats to help liberate the country from imported oil and undercut steep gas prices.

Congress has defeated efforts to open ANWR to oil exploration and drilling.

Former Gov. Mark Warner, the presumed Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat, regularly says on the campaign trail: "We're spending upwards of $500 billion a year purchasing foreign oil from countries around the world — many of whom don't like us."

Spokesman Kevin Hall said Mr. Warner considers drilling in the Alaska refuge "a short-term, last-century solution to a 21st-century problem."

"We need to be developing a broad range of clean alternative energy sources: solar, wind, hydro, a fresh look a nuclear, clean coal and biofuels," Mr. Hall said.