Stevens Wages His Best Shot to Open Arctic Refuge
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 14, 2005; Page A17
Forget the oil. Perhaps the best reason to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is to restore Sen. Ted Stevens's sanity.
"I'm seriously depressed," the Alaska Republican said, at the thought of losing yet another ANWR battle. "I've been at this too long."
For 24 years, Stevens has fought to open the preserve, believing that the oil under the tundra would substantially reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil. This week, the Senate will embark on its best shot in years at winning ANWR access, by including a provision in the fiscal 2006 budget that makes the measure filibuster proof. That means it requires only a simple majority to pass -- rather than the 60 votes that have been needed in the past to surmount a filibuster by Democrats and moderate GOP opponents.
The refuge was established in 1960 and expanded in 1980, under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which included a provision to study the potential oil and gas resources in one small slice of ANWR known as the Arctic coastal plain.
"You know, 24 years I've argued to get Congress to keep its word made to us. . . . They assured us we could explore in that area," Stevens said. Based on that compact, he had allowed Congress to withdraw 100 million acres of Alaska land from state and local use, turning it over to the federal government.
His constituents condemned what they saw as a traitorous act. The senator has kept one "Come home Ted" local newspaper ad in his wallet for all these years, "to remind me what can happen when people really disagree with you."
But Stevens's dream may soon be realized, if Republicans can beat back a Democrat-led effort to strip the ANWR provision during this week's budget debate on the Senate floor.
President Bush has estimated a yield of about 10 billion barrels from ANWR drilling. Bush and other backers say steps can be taken to mitigate the impact of drilling.
But environmentalists have long opposed any tampering with the site, regarding the region as environmentally sacrosanct. According to the refuge's Web site, the 19.6 million-acre area is inhabited by 45 species of land and marine mammals, including the pygmy shrew and the bowhead whale, along with 36 species of fish and 180 species of birds. For now the land is accessible only by aircraft.
Drilling opponents consider the $2.5 billion over five years in estimated new revenue to be bogus, or at least "very, very speculative," as Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) put it. Feingold is one foe trying to strike the provision from the budget bill.
Stevens is hopeful that with a net gain of four Senate Republicans in November, this is finally ANWR's year. "I believe we have the votes," he said.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Calling all Republican Social Security plans.
Proposals are rolling in on how to restructure the federal retirement program. There is the Bush plan, of course, but Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) has an approach, as do Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Robert F. Bennett (Utah). Reps. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (Fla.) and Jim Kolbe (Ariz.) have put forth plans in the House.
All the plans are being carefully shopped by GOP lawmakers, most of whom still are not sure what to do about Social Security.
"For individual members, it's important to get ideas on the table now," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
Notably silent on their preferences are the two lawmakers most critical to passing a Social Security bill: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
Usually an open book, Grassley has revealed almost nothing about his preferences, although he did co-sponsor a bill in 1997 that would have created private accounts.
Instead he wants to know what others are thinking, attending forums hosted by Graham and a bipartisan group of Senate moderates, and conducting one-on-one talks with Democrats. He has huddled the past four Monday afternoons with Finance Committee Republicans. Grassley says that restructuring Social Security is 90 percent a White House sales job, and that the remaining 10 percent, which involves writing the legislation, will flow relatively smoothly if Bush gets his work done, and if Republicans can win at least some Democratic support.
As Thomas points out, only three members of Ways and Means -- himself and Democratic Reps. Charles B. Rangel of New York and Fortney "Pete" Stark of California -- were serving on the panel in 1983, for the last major Social Security restructuring. "This very important fundamental safety net program . . . is being looked at by a committee that has not had significant experience in legislating in this area."
THE WEEK AHEAD: The House and Senate both hope to pass the budget resolution this week, with the House also taking up an Iraq-related supplemental spending bill. The House Financial Services Committee is expected to move forward on the bankruptcy bill that cleared the Senate last week, while the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee turns to the highway bill. |
