Lots left for the wildlife -
Posted on 10/20/2017 10:33:29 AM PDT by drewh
WASHINGTON – The Senate rejected an amendment Thursday that sought to block a key panel from raising revenue through drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a move that could make it easier for future oil and gas drilling to take place there.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, Wash., the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, offered an budget amendment that would have removed instructions to the panel to raise an additional $1 billion through federal leasing. It failed 48 to 52 on a largely party-line vote, with only Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, W.Va., breaking ranks. Collins voted in favor of Cantwell’s amendment, while Manchin opposed it.
The vote, which came before the Senate approved Republican’s proposed budget, represented a victory for the GOP and a defeat for environmentalists. The Trump administration is quietly moving to spur energy exploration in the refuge for the first time in more than 30 years by considering whether to allow seismic testing there, but only Congress can determine whether oil and gas drilling can take place within its 19.6 million acres.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told her colleagues that they should view the budget instructions “as an opportunity to do something constructive for the country.”
“It’s about jobs, and job creation. It’s about wealth and wealth creation,” she said, adding that drilling in the refuge is “not the only option” for how her panel could find $1 billion in new revenue. “But I will tell you it is the best option, and it’s on the table.”
Opponents of the plan say that such operations could imperil the refuge’s wildlife, which include polar bears as well as caribou and migrating waterfowl. David Yarnold, CEO of the National Audubon Society, said in a recent interview that based on recent lease sales, the federal government would likely get only $9 million in revenue if it auctioned off the right to drill on the refuge’s coastal plain.
“It’s just bad math,” Yarnold said, adding that when lawmakers predict this activity could raise $1 billion, “there’s no reason to believe that that’s going to happen.”
But Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, hailed the move as a sign that his state was inching closer to developing an area that’s been shut off from development for years.
“This resolution is another key step that we’ve recently accomplished in a decades-long fight to allow Alaskans to produce energy in our state – something that Alaskans, Democrats, Republicans, independents, overwhelmingly support,” Sullivan said in a statement. “More American energy production means more good-paying jobs, increased economic growth, and a stronger national security.”
Environmentalists said they would continue to fight any move to drill in the refuge, which has been subject to fights in Congress for years.
“Today’s vote is a wakeup call for all Americans. Americans have fought for decades to protect this last remaining truly wild landscape, and are rallying today because they believe in taking action on climate change and want to defend the rights of the Native Gwich’in people,” said Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, in a statement. “Every member of Congress who supported this scheme, to hijack the budget process to do the bidding of oil companies, needs to hear loud and clear that we are determined to defend ‘America’s Serengeti.’
Fake News has been around a long time, hasn’t it?
The problem is liberals have been abusing national monument designations like they abuse the Endangered Species Act solely for the purpose of stopping development just for the sake of stopping development. That is what the fight over the sage grouse is about here. It's not endangered, but liberals want to designate it to stop development, which for some reason they think is evil.
Talk about liberals’ heads exploding!
Ah ha - and this is how we get to the 50 votes needed. With this provision, Lisa Murkowski will be on board. McCain and Collins will not be able to block it unless there is another turn coat.
I actually am feeling somewhat more optimistic.
I remember the epic showdowns between Ted Stevens and Barbara Boxer on the floor of the Senate over this same thing. He flat out said she was lying and was one of the richest people in America trying to keep poor people in his state from being able to make a living. Then she would come out with giant poster boards with a picture of a bird in a nest (zoomed in just with the nest and bird) implying this bird would die if there were any drilling anywhere in ANWR. Ted Stevens had pictures of the desolate areas as far as the eye could see and yelled “You want to see this great wilderness they’re talking about being destroyed? There it is!” (while pounding the picture with a pointer stick). He also pointed out that the area for development was just a very, very small part of ANWR he called the 10-02 area with the other 98% having nothing to do whatsoever with the development.
I’ve driven up through the area. It is a barren wasteland with very scant plant and animal life. Time now to use it for energy independence.
Yes, and it was warmer allowing the caribou to calve there increasing their survival rate. The last I checked it had increased by 50%.
What sort of wildlife take refuge there?
Lots left for the wildlife -
A few scrawny bears that were grossly undersized for lack of food. We met with conservation personnel that informed us because we saw no animal life when we were there in August.
This just in!
Sun rises in East.
Sounds dangerous.
Did he also tell you "Don't feed the bears"?
(Arf arf arf)
We didn’t see a single bear and i have seen dozens of griz in southern Alaska and Yakutat. Actually, we saw no wildlife whatsoever in the tundra, a barren wasteland it is.
Well...how far is it from the North Pole?
We drove to about 100 miles south of Prudoe Bay. Get your map out and calculate it.
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