Posted on 06/20/2002 2:55:35 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - While the Senate earlier this year refused to include oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of its energy package, many House and Senate Republicans still hope the measure will be part of the final congressional bill sent to the president. The House passed energy bill does contain a provision for ANWR drilling.
The House-Senate Energy Conference Committee will begin trying to reconcile the two versions of the bill Thursday, June 27 and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of a House energy subcommittee, is among those who are optimistic that ANWR still has a chance.
"The world is going to peak in oil production in 2007. The question is not if we are going to drill in ANWR, the question is when," Barton told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
"It would be prudent to go ahead and start this process this year because if we give approval in this bill, it will be 5 to 10 years before we see oil begin to flow from ANWR," Barton said.
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Congress must act swiftly to pass an energy bill.
"America moves on oil," Murkowski said. "[The] increased dependence on OPEC that the United States got itself into is a very dangerous situation.
"We have been held hostage by OPEC. It's in our national security interests to develop domestic supplies here at home," he said.
Murkowski called ANWR "the most likely area to make a major (oil) discovery," and estimated that the area holds between 5.6 and 6.2 million barrels of oil.
However, Murkowski also called the ANWR debate a "cash cow" for the environmental movement, which has been warning that wildlife in the area will suffer if oil drilling begins. "They've been milking it for absolutely all it's worth," Murkowski said.
"There is absolutely no scientific evidence that that area cannot be opened up safely,"
he added.
Murkowski also said he is confident the environment would be protected once oil drilling began.
"Do we have the technology? Clearly we do. Can we protect the caribou (moose)? Certainly we can. Can we protect the polar bear? Yes," he said.
On May 13, Bill Wicker, Democratic spokesperson for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said members of his party are not worried about the ANWR provision passing.
"All Democratic conferees are committed to supporting a conference report that can pass the Senate," Wicker said. "And obviously a conference report that contains a provision opening cannot pass in the Senate.
"The priority of the Democrats is to support the priorities that have emerged through the bill," he said. "It is also to come up with a conference report that would pass the full Senate."
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