Fight Over Alaska Oil Drilling Continues

Associated Press ^ | 8/7/2005 | H. JOSEF HEBERT

[dila813]

A section of land inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, proposed to be used for oil exploration by the Bush administration, is shown in this undated file photo. Conspicuous by its absence in the energy bill that President Bush will sign Monday is his top energy priority - opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling. But the fight over the future of the Arctic refuge will flare anew in Congress in September with drilling advocates saying they may have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen. (AP Photo/Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, File)

President Bush
WASHINGTON - Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill thatPresident Bush has championed and willPresident Bush sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.A section of land inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, proposed to be used for oil exploration by the Bush administration, is shown in this undated file photo. Conspicuous by its absence in the energy bill that President Bush will sign Monday is his top energy priority - opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling. But the fight over the future of the Arctic refuge will flare anew in Congress in September with drilling advocates saying they may have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen. (AP Photo/Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, File)

President BushBut the fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will flare anew in Congress next month with drilling advocates saying they have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen.

Tapping what is believed to be at least 10 billion barrels of oil within the refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain has been the centerpiece of Bush's energy agenda dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2000. Bush has repeatedly said the oil is important to the nation's national and economic security.

But the idea that drilling proponents might win has produced outrage among environmentalists, who see the region as a pristine refuge where caribou, polar bears, migratory birds and other wildlife thrive and should be protected.

A coalition of most Democrats and a handful of moderate Republicans repeatedly has thwarted attempts to open the refuge to energy development through the power of the Senate filibuster.

"If we had put (Arctic drilling) in the bill, we wouldn't be here," said Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., celebrating passage of the energy bill that Bush plans to sign in a ceremony in Albuquerque, N.M. The bill never could have mustered the 60 votes needed to overcome a certain Senate filibuster over ANWR, he says.

But drilling advocates have a backup plan that is expected to unfold in mid-September.

Domenici said he will include a provision authorizing ANWR drilling as part of a budget procedure that is immune to filibuster. A similar maneuver is being planned in the House, although the final strategy is still being worked out.

Unlike normal legislation, the budget process is not subject to filibuster, so only 51 votes will be needed in the Senate for it to clear Congress and be signed into law by the president. Just such a tactic was used a decade ago when Congress approved ANWR drilling as part of the budget process, only to see the measure vetoed by then-President Clinton, a drilling opponent.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (news, bio, voting record), R-Alaska, said her state's delegation is determined to push for opening the refuge, calling it "the final component" of a nation energy plan that she hopes will be put in place later this year.

Alaska would get half of the proceeds from oil leases, which theCongressional Budget Office has estimated at $5 billion over five years, shared equally by the federal government and the state.

This expected revenue is at the heart of the strategy drilling supporters plan to pursue to end more than 20 years of debate over access to ANWR's oil. The budget will assume $2.5 billion in federal revenue from ANWR lease sales, beginning in 2007. That, in turn will allow lawmakers to draft an accompanying document authorizing such drilling — a so-called "reconciliation" document which is not subject to filibuster and when signed by the president will have the force of law.

It's "backdoor budget chicanery," complained Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., an ANWR drilling opponent. "By shoehorning the Arctic refuge into the budget, they are making an end-run around the legislative process, knowing it cannot pass the Senate any other way."

But drilling advocates accuse opponents of also having relied on parliamentary maneuvers, the filibuster, to keep the issue from being decided on a straight up-or-down vote.

Environmentalists are gearing up for a fight, hitting state fairs, town meetings and other community events during the summer August doldrums when Congress is in recess, hoping to rally public sentiment against drilling.

"We're not holding anything back. We're organizing like we have never before," said Athan Manuel of U.S. PIRG, a grass-roots environmental advocacy group with branches in every state.

The outcome could depend on a handful of votes, says Melinda Pierce, of theSierra Club. But handicapping them will be anything but simple.

___

On the Net

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: http://arctic.fws.gov

[dila813]

I hope so

[oceanview]

Frist had better not blow this one.

[Deetes]

The oil is just waiting here :-) This is the time to pass it. And it will just drive the rats nuts....

[tet68]

Prepare to drill.
Mr. President, Make it so.

[kerryusama04]

All we need to do is send Yosemite Sam up to ANWR with a pick axe and all of the sudden the Arabs will be our friends and oil prices will drop conspicuously.

[rodguy911]

Even if it gets approved it will be years before the oil starts flowing.The rats have screwed up our economy one more time.

[Fred Nerks]

[SunnyD1182]

I propose a new solution.

Since environmentalists are so adamantly against drilling for oil in ANWR, we will not approve drilling in ANWR. In exchange, all environmentalists will have to give up their gasoline-powered vehicles, will have to purchase energy from non-oil sources, and will promise never to travel via airplane, taxi cab, bus, or any other mechanism that makes use of oil for its energy.

That ought to make up for the loss of oil we'd face by not drilling in ANWR. After all, they're environmentalists. Surely they'd be willing to give up their transportations and energy needs for the sake of the Porcupine Caribou...RIGHT?

[Seeking the truth]

For the life of me, I don't understand why the President doesn't initiate an Executive Order stating, for national security reasons, drilling in ANWAR is to commence immediately.

Let the Left try to stop that.

[RightWhale]

That is a fair view of the oil district of ANWR. The mountains in the background are not as close as they look. The lens might present a different aspect than the eye would in person. The flats are fairly wide.

[Morgan in Denver]

You might as well add no using products with petroleum in them. That would eliminate blue jeans, tennis shoes, all plastics and even the tooth paste they probably don't use now anyway. Also all synthetic materials, which means they will need to clear it with PeTA for going back to fur and hides.

[dalereed]

How many hundred miles do you consider "fairly wide"?

[RightWhale]

Twenty miles.

[upchuck]

Environmentalists are gearing up for a fight, hitting state fairs, town meetings and other community events during the summer August doldrums when Congress is in recess, hoping to rally public sentiment against drilling.

My state of South Carolina has some of the lowest gas prices in the country. We're currently sitting somewhere between 2.059 and 2.259 depending on where you are in the state. That sure "rallies my sentiment" and makes me want to look up my local politicos and beg them not to drill in ANWAR.

[lstanle]

"The oil is just waiting here :-) This is the time to pass it. And it will just drive the rats nuts...."

If gasoline is 5 bucks a gallon and you have to wait in long lines to pay that by the time the vote on drilling in ANWR comes up, maybe it won't to too hard to pass.

[Luke21]

Notice not one sentence about gas prices in this tripe.

[RightWhale]

It will be several years from the time approval is granted by the Caliphate in DC until oil flows down the pipeline.

[Balding_Eagle]

He shouldn't do that for much of the same reason SCOTUS shouldn't have ruled as they did in Roe v Wade.

That ruling divided the country for the last thirty years. An EO on ANWAR would (to a much lesser degree) do the same. Over the next 30 years we will make much greater gains if ANWAR passes as it properly should.

Not that I wouldn't like to see the Left go insane over Bush doing just as you proposed.

[Seeking the truth]

Disagree.

The percentage of people opposed to ANWAR (read some attempt at self-sufficiency) is actually very small.

Only the ardent wacko enviros are against this.

The average American on street, looking at $2.50-3.00/gallon, would applaud an EO from Bush.

It doesn't matter that any relief or help is years away. The public would applaud the start!

Of course, the media, the left, the enviros...etc would scream & yell just like they do on all their cherished causes.


I really don't see the Roe v. Wade analogy at all.

Choice is a viseral & emotional issue for half of the population.

Drilling for oil is not an emotional issue except for the very fringe.

[jbeagley]

a) As someone else has pointed out, it will be quite a few years before the drilling can start.

b) 10.4 billion barrels is the estimated amount of technically recoverable. The economically recoverable amount could be anywhere from 3 to 10.4 billion barrels, assuming a cost of about $30 per barrel.

c) There are much better, both economically and environmentally, ways of reducing the US dependence on foreign oil, such as subsidizing the development on hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This is a much better plan in the longterm.