Senate to Vote on Defense, Arctic Drilling
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON – Congress was immersed in a Christmas week battle Wednesday over whether to exploit the nation’s largest untapped reservoir of oil beneath the frozen tundra of an Alaska wildlife refuge.
Senate supporters of drilling sought to cut off debate on a massive defense spending bill and proceed to a vote on the legislation. The bill includes a provision that would allow development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. An hour before the vote, neither side was predicting victory in the latest round of a quarter-century fight.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told colleagues that "it is wrong" to consider the contentious issue of drilling in the refuge as part of a must-pass defense bill that would provide money for troops in Iraq as well as relief for Katrina hurricane victims.
"We need … to open up the small area of the coastal plain (of the refuge) for oil exploration and development," countered Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. She called making the oil available a matter of national security by reducing U.S. reliance on oil imports.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has fought to allow oil exploration and development in the refuge’s coastal plain since 1980, angered many of his Senate colleagues by attaching the drilling measure to a must-pass defense spending bill.
Senators determined to protect the refuge from development found it difficult to oppose the politically popular defense bill, which has money for troops in Iraq, relief for Katrina hurricane victims and help for low-income families to pay energy bills.
"This is nothing more than legislative blackmail," fumed Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., an ardent opponent to opening the Alaska refuge to oil companies.
Democrats and a few moderate Republicans said they were ready to filibuster the bill, prompting Republican leaders to scramble for the 60 votes needed to cut off debate. Neither side dared predict victory, since one or two senators could mean the difference.
"This is a power play … simply a misuse of power," complained Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader from Nevada, alluding to the use of the defense spending bill and funding for hurricane victims to try to force through the contentious Alaska drilling measure known as ANWR.
Senators grumbled at being kept in session nearly to Christmas because of the legislative standoff. But Stevens was unapologetic and unrelenting.
He called the development of ANWR’s oil a matter of national security because the country needs all the domestic oil it can get, said it was a fitting subject for defense legislation and dismissed environmentalists’ arguments that drilling would jeopardize the refuge’s wildlife.
"The extreme environmentalists think it’s their playground, that they should set the policies for Alaska," Stevens said, reminding colleagues on the Senate floor Tuesday that a majority of the Senate repeatedly has voiced approval for drilling, only to be thwarted by filibusters.
A decade ago a Republican-led Congress used a parliamentary maneuver to get an ANWR bill successfully past a filibuster, only to have it vetoed by President Clinton. This time President Bush has made ANWR drilling one of his top priorities and is eager to sign a bill.
Drilling opponents long have argued that ANWR’s oil should not be exploited because of the coastal plain’s fragile ecosystem and its wildlife. While the region looks bleak during its long winters and oil can be seen seeping from some of its rock formations, the coastal strip also is the calving ground for caribou and home to polar bears, musk oxen, and the annual influx of millions of migratory birds.
"There are literally hundreds of thousands of Americans following this issue," William Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society, said Tuesday, adding that there has been "an outpouring of angst and concern" over Stevens’ attempt to link hurricane relief money, low-income energy assistance funds and money for the Iraq war to push the drilling measure through a reluctant Senate.
Drilling proponents say modern techniques can extract the oil without damaging the environment.
The House passed the $454 billion defense spending bill earlier this week, 308-106, with scores of lawmakers who previously opposed refuge drilling voting for the legislation.
The bill includes $29 billion for Katrina hurricane relief, $2 billion in emergency funding for low-income families pay high heating bills this winter as well as money for troops in Iraq. Stevens’ provision would funnel 80 percent of the proceeds from Arctic refuge oil lease sales to hurricane relief and 5 percent for the energy assistance program.
The legislation anticipates about $5 billion in federal revenue bonus bids from oil leases, the first of which must be issued within 22 months and the second package in 2010. Half of the lease proceeds and future royalties from oil production would go to Alaska.
Alaska relies heavily on proceeds from oil production, a revenue stream that has been in steady decline as the vast Prudhoe Bay oil fields to the west of ANWR become less productive.
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On the Net:
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: http://arctic.fws.gov/