This is not a joke, I promise. The House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said in an press conference yesterday that he don’t think there is any wildlife in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge (ANWR).

“We’re going to look at this barren, Arctic desert where I’m hoping to see some wildlife,” Boehner said. “But I understand there’s none there. But I’m still going to look for it. If I find any, I’ll let you know.”

Check out the video below where CNN interviews John Boehner, shortly after the press conference, while showing b-roll of actual wildlife moving around in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge.

The republicans are travelling to Alaska and the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge this weekend to check out their potential oilfield which is said to produce around 10 billion barrels of oil.

“The total production from ANWR would be between 0.4 and 1.2 percent of total world oil consumption in 2030. Consequently, ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices.”

So even if the Republicans get permission to drill for oil in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge there won’t be any impacts on the rising oil and gas prices. And the minor impacts it is expected to have will not be felt until after 15-20 years.

And don’t you think (for our own good) that 20 years from now we should have come up with something else, besides oil, to run our cars on?