CBS News | Senate Rejects Alaska Oil Drilling | March 29, 2003 17 ... And GOP leaders couldn't get the additional two votes they desperately needed.
Development of the millions of barrels of oil beneath the 100-mile coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska has been a key part of President Bush's energy plan. However, environmentalists contend drilling there would jeopardize a pristine area valued for its wildlife.
All but five Democrats voted against refuge drilling. There were eight Republicans who joined the Democrats in favor of barring oil companies from the refuge.
With one or two senators holding the balance, both sides stepped up their lobbying to try to sway anyone thinking of shifting their allegiance. The vote appeared to tighten when freshman Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., under intense pressure, signaled he might vote in favor of drilling. But in the end, Coleman, who succeeded the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, an ardent opponent of drilling, sided with the Democrats.
Jimmy Carter James Earl ("Jimmy") Carter’s one-term presidency is remembered for the events that overwhelmed it—inflation, energy crisis, war in Afghanistan, and hostages in Iran.
Carter was determined to free the nation from dependency on foreign oil by encouraging alternate energy sources and deregulating domestic oil pricing.
Make the Saudis Pay for Terror - article by Daniel Pipes The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's massive implication in the death of 3,000 Americans on 9/11, I argued in February, is reason for the victims and their families to consider suing it for compensation. Three important developments have occurred since then, all of them propelling this idea forward.