update on Senate committee inclusion of Arctic drilling in budget reconciliation
Great Lakes Organizer Gal
Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:40 PM ET
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Energy Committee voted on
Wednesday to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
drilling as part of a broad budget bill to fund the federal government.
Tapping the refuge's billions of barrels of crude oil is a key part of
the Bush administration's national energy plan to boost domestic
production. Environmental groups and many Democrats oppose drilling,
saying that instead of threatening the habitat of wildlife in ANWR,
lawmakers should look at ways to cut oil consumption with more
fuel-efficient vehicle standards.
The refuge, which is about the size of South Carolina, sprawls across
more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. It is home to polar
bears, musk oxen, caribou and migratory birds.
The energy panel approved the ANWR drilling provision, 13-9. All
Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the plan, plus Democrats
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.
"Opening ANWR is sound public policy that would serve the country well
many years into the future," said Pete Domenici, the Republican
chairman of the committee. The oil produced from the wildlife refuge
"would provide some cushion" for U.S. supplies, he said.
The legislative proposal will be folded into a much bigger budget bill
to fund the federal government, which the Senate Budget Committee is
scheduled to vote on next week and the full U.S. Senate the following
week.
Republican leaders decided to attach the Alaska drilling plan to budget
legislation because under Senate rules the giant spending bill cannot
be filibustered. They argue the drilling language can be in the budget
bill because it will raise an estimated $2.4 billion in leasing
revenue.
However, Democrats said they plan to object to the drilling language
when the bill goes to the Senate floor, claiming the drilling plan sets
policy more than raises revenue. Democrat Byron Dorgan of North Dakota
said the Republicans were "short-circuiting the process" by attaching
ANWR to a budget bill.
The Senate Energy Committee also rejected a proposal from Democrat Ron
Wyden of Oregon that would have prevented Alaskan oil production from
being exported to China or other foreign markets.
Under the drilling plan, ANWR's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain would be
opened for energy exploration. As much as 10.4 billion barrels of crude
could be recovered from the refuge's coastal plain, according to
government estimates.
The Interior Department would be required to hold two lease sales
before October 1, 2010, to lease tracts in ANWR to oil companies.
Opening ANWR would have no impact on replacing the shutdown oil
production in the Gulf of Mexico caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
If Congress approved drilling in the Arctic refuge this year, oil would
not begin flowing until about 2015, according to the Energy Information
Administration.
A coalition of moderate Republicans and most Democrats in the Senate in
the past successfully blocked attempts to add ANWR drilling to energy
legislation. However, the House of Representatives has repeatedly voted
in favor of opening the Alaskan refuge to energy development.