Six Republican Senators Turn Against Bush on ANWR

Reuters ^ | 1/31/03

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration's plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling suffered a major blow on Friday, as six Republican senators said they opposed inserting language to give oil companies access to the refuge into a must-pass budget bill.

ANWR, which is home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife, sprawls across 19 million acres of Alaska's northeast corner.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed energy legislation last year that would have opened ANWR to drilling.

The White House contends that the refuge's potential 16 billion barrels of crude must be tapped to help reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports from unfriendly countries like Iraq.

Drilling is opposed by many Democrats and environmental groups, who say the administration should cut oil imports by boosting the mileage standards of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.

Six of the Senate's 51 Republicans, including former presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, on Friday announced they would not go along with a plan to tack ANWR drilling language onto a massive spending bill this spring that would enact the new 2004 budget for the federal government.

The senators said drilling in the Alaskan refuge is an important policy issue that should be openly debated, not slipped into an unrelated bill.

"Because the opening of the Arctic refuge to drilling raises a host of policy concerns, including serious environmental ramifications, we do not believe this issue should be injected in the budget process," the lawmakers said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles.

The letter is the latest twist in a two-year legislative battle over drilling in the Alaskan refuge.

The Democratic-led Senate last year soundly defeated efforts to open the refuge, when drilling supporters fell short of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the controversial proposal and allow a final vote on the measure.

To get around a filibuster this time around, supporters of opening the refuge want to attach drilling language to must-pass legislation to fund the 2004 budget for the federal government. They argue that such language is appropriate for budget legislation because of the fees the government would collect from leasing tracts in the refuge to oil companies.

Under Senate rules, budget legislation cannot be filibustered and only 50 votes would be needed to approve the bill and an attached ANWR drilling provision.

In addition to McCain, the letter was signed by Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

In his State of the Union speech to Congress earlier this week, President Bush urged lawmakers to pass legislation enacting his national energy plan, which includes drilling in the refuge.

Two Democratic presidential hopefuls, Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, oppose ANWR drilling and have promised to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge.

[stalin]

Maybe ? I don't know what a troll or a ZOT is.

[Defiant]

2 points, one semi-facetious:

1. If we don't pump the oil, and then we develop hydrogen fuel cells in the next 20 years, the oil sitting in the ground will be worthless, and we will have given our money to Arabs instead of our own citizens; and

2. What these 6 senators are doing doesn't matter at all. The house can pass the legislation, with ANWR in it. The Senate can pass a version without ANWR. The 6 RINOs will not, I guarantee you, be appointed to the conference committee that will work out any differences between the House and Senate versions. The Conference Committee will go with the House bill, including the ANWR provisions. The Senate will then be presented with an all or nothing choice, and the RINOs will vote for the bill, complaining all the while.

[clamper1797]

McCain, the letter was signed by Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

The usual RINO suspects ...

[cynicom]

Those judges gonna drag my car around when I run out of gas???? Never forget old Earl Warren, solid conservative republican, uh huh....Plus one or two we have now are fence sitters at best.

[Kip Lange]

You want me to trust government numbers? :-)

Will you admit that we do not actually know how much oil is up there, because you *can't*, until you start tapping it (and running into the small pockets here and there, etc)? Or are you presuming that the numbers you are giving -- real or fabricated -- are absolute gospel?

Fuzzy math. :p

--CWL

[newgeezer]

Tell me once again why we should vote for anyone for senate that is republican?????

One obvious reason would be that not all Senate Republicans are RINOs. See American Conservative Union.

[Kip Lange]

Seriously, as much as people worry about it, control of the Senate doesn't matter for much other than the nominations (and it's all I really care about) -- yeah, okay, you do get a Souter, here and there, but you *are* better off in the end. Imagine what the Warren court -- or any "activist" court -- might have done during the 2000 election.

--CWL

[OldFriend]

Don't want to hear those New Englanders whining about the price of heating oil.

[Kip Lange]

Just wanted to add that the ACU has a good and complete rating of each Senator, plus their complete voting history (can't remember if you can get that if you don't sign up or not, tho), which can prove very useful in "Spotting RINOs 101". :-)

--CWL

[CollegeRepublican]

The numbers that I presented ARE estimates of consumption and I said earlier in the thread that I believe that there is probably more oil in ANWR that the USGS and DOE think. I hope that is the case. Prudhoe Bay has already produced more oil than was thought to be deposited there.

[Kip Lange]

*poke* I'm in MA *poke* and I'm *poke* pro-ANWR *poke* drilling, so don't...leave me out in the cold. ;-)

I reserve the right to whine! ;-) *Especially* because I'm New England. Hehe.

--CWL

[stalin]

We should not sell any of our national recourses to other countries. We should use them for ourselves , make them value added when possible , then sell them but never sell them as raw materials.

When there are other countries that we can get raw materials from cheaply it is better for our economy in the long run to do so. When the price of oil goes to $40 or $50 a barrel in todays $ then , maybe we should drill anwar.

I realize that drilling anwar is good for Alaska in the short run but we should use our own recourses in the wisest way not just do with them what is best for a few in the short run.

As one of my other posts demonstrates , I agree with you about immigration. Developing the economy is offset by hoard of workers coming in.

India would probably be the richest nation on Earth by now if it could have kept it's population in check. We've got to close our borders. Republicans have got to do it. Dems aren't. Unfortunately Bush isn't and party lap dogs aren't going to do anything about it. We need more independent Republicans.

[Stultis]

Good. It's foolish to pump our oil now. I'm not against drilling anwar in the future if the price goes to $40 a berrel but the cost of drilling is much higher than the price of oil will be after we take Iraq.
It's not smart to drill now.

Then you shouldn't oppose the present initiative of the Republican Party which, despite miscasting of the issue by the press and opponents, would open up the small designated coastal area of ANWR to exploration. The market will indeed decide if and when actual drilling may occur. It's not like the government is going to hold a gun to the the heads of oilmen and say, "you must sign this lease and start drilling post-haste."

[desertcry]

Dewine is a surprise. All the rest are very well known RINOs, including my senator mcpain, I'm sorry to say. I will try very hard to fix that, next time mcpain runs for his re-election. Our regular unleaded gas is now costing us more than $1.50/gallon.

[Stultis]

Drilling ANWAr will not change our dependence on foriegn oil. We should have direct control of foriegn oil. I hope that that is what Bush is going for in Iraq.

Oh, geeze. It's doubtful that even the commies really believe the "war for oil" nonsense, an argument constructed to rope in mentally challenged dupes. What possesses you to buy in? Considering the cost of deployment and conquest alone, let alone maintaining an empirial state in Iraq, it would be cheaper to suck North Slope oil through solid gold straws!

Since you apparently haven't been paying any attention, what Bush is "going for" is the exact opposite of "direct control" of oil, by the United States or anyone else. Our policy favors, and is geared toward creating, a rational international market for oil, with a maximum diversity of sources, such that cartels are ineffective.

[Kip Lange]

The numbers that I presented ARE estimates of consumption and I said earlier in the thread that I believe that there is probably more oil in ANWR that the USGS and DOE think. I hope that is the case. Prudhoe Bay has already produced more oil than was thought to be deposited there.

Ah, sorry, I apologize for being redundant and not being thorough in reading the posts. I stand in agreeement, then; USGS does at the moment predict something like (this is what I've heard from gov. #s) a year's worth of oil for the US out of ANWR (which is not exactly something to laugh at, as it is), although I maintain that history shows we always find a heck of a lot more pockets of oil -- sometimes we even miss huge fields of it, due to geographical/geological anomalies -- once we actually start drilling.

--CWL

[cynicom]

All politics aside...

Ever wonder about the laws of the land, brought to us by a supreme court with a 5 to 4 decision. I often think, which is right and which is wrong. For instance segregation was deemed legal and proper for nearly a century, then it reversed. Abortion was illegal and then it reversed. Too many times the outcome is one mans opinion.

[CollegeRepublican]

It is cool. No harm done. We agree. I think that one of the reasons that people do not want to EXPLORE ANWR is that they will discover alot more oil there than has been predicted.

[RamingtonStall]

For twenty years we had to put up with Metzembaum and Glenn as our Senators from Ohio.

Now when we finally get Republicans we get DeWine who thinks he's John Muir and Taxaholic Voinovich.

RINO's or Republicrats, you be the judge.

The only thing thesse two bring to the party is that they give contol of the Senate to the Republicans. Unfortunately, it's the best we've got in OHIO.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

RamS

[Robert_Paulson2]

so is the republican senator from oregon... gordon smith.

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we don't have the votes to win this.
if smith voted for this just ONCE... we would lose his seat. GUARANDAMNTEED.

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Environmentalism is a religion, just like abortionism.
It has become a massive federally supported institutionalized faith of sorts.
It is also the home of the communist party. Since the "environment" is a "community property" that cannot be anything other than shared... this religion is a 'natural' vehicle for promoting the socialist agenda.

Until we change hearts we are going to be stuck with it. EV (environmentalism) and the "common good" (communism) will have to be confronted in a MAJOR way. It will be hard because none of us actually want to destroy our air or water; or kill all the fruit flies. But EVERY issue to the EV religion, is a matter of "killing our animals destroying our air and water" desperation.

And our public schools are pumping out these emotionally driven, "don't kill my kitty cat", "meat is murder" or "save the dolphin" dolts, en masse.

Changing minds of folks who are hooked on an extremist religions like radical islam, or EV... involves a lot of persuasion, and sometimes force.