SUV for Victory: Arctic National Wildlife Refuse

San Francisco Chronicle

The Senate rejected a last-ditch effort by Democrats on Thursday to stop plans to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, moving closer to ending one of the most heated environmental disputes of the past quarter century.

By a 51-48 vote, the Senate defeated an amendment that would have stripped a provision allowing drilling in the Alaskan refuge from the huge budget reconciliation bill. "It's the beginning of the end of the opposition" to drilling, said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "I think we're going to get it -- finally. This giant resource is going to be developed."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a longtime opponent of drilling, said of the vote: "The Republican Senate has shown its true colors -- it is clear by their overwhelming support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that they have no respect for the environment."

The Senate voted 52-47 Thursday to approve the budget bill. If the bill wins final passage in Congress in the next few weeks, the Interior Department could begin selling oil and gas leases next year in the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the refuge, which is home to caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds.

Republican leaders added the drilling provision to the budget reconciliation bill to avoid a filibuster, which can't be used against budget bills. Proponents say oil lease sales in the refuge would raise $2.5 billion over five years for the federal Treasury -- and a similar amount for the state of Alaska.

But Democrats criticized the effort as a stealth strategy to avoid major debate on an important environmental issue. "This isn't the way to make policy relating to energy," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said in debate over the measure Wednesday. "Drilling in the arctic refuge is something that has been, and should continue to be, discussed in an open debate instead of as part of a backdoor maneuver."

Environmentalists are still clinging to the hope that drilling in the refuge could be blocked if the bill is derailed during Congress' complex budget process. The House takes up its budget bill next week, and the two chambers will have to combine their separate bills in a joint conference committee.

Some GOP leaders are anxious that the arctic drilling provision could complicate the passage of the budget bill. Already some Republican moderates are balking at significant proposed cuts to popular programs -- such as Medicare, Medicaid, student loans and food stamps -- as the House seeks to find $50 billion to pay for hurricane relief.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, told the New York Times Wednesday that he feared the drilling provision could kill the bill. But other proponents say House leaders have lined up the votes they need, even though the vote is likely to be close.

Proponents have sought to open the Alaskan refuge to drilling for almost three decades, and President Bush made it a centerpiece of his 2001 energy plan. But for the last four years, the Senate blocked the effort. The 2004 election, which added four new Republican senators and ousted several anti-drilling Democrats, changed the political dynamic.

"In Thursday's vote, six Republicans -- John McCain of Arizona, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Gordon Smith of Oregon -- joined most Democrats in opposing drilling. But Republicans, with a 55-vote majority, were able to defeat the bill with support from three Democrats: Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

Both of California's Democratic senators voted to oppose drilling.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., led the battle against drilling on the Senate floor, offering the amendment to strip the right to sell oil and gas leases in the refuge from the budget bill.
Cantwell cited new data by the Energy Information Administration, a branch of the Energy Department, which found that tapping the oil from the refuge, at peak production in 2025, would only reduce gas prices by one penny a gallon.

"Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge will not translate into savings at the gas pump," Cantwell said. "We are going to open a pristine wildlife refuge for a penny a gallon 10 to 15 years from now?"

The Energy Information Administration has estimated that drilling in the refuge would reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil from 70 percent to 66 percent in 2025.