Dunn breaks GOP ranks on Arctic drilling
By Craig Welch
Seattle Times staff reporter
U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn abandoned the president she helped elect, bucked her Republican colleagues and voted with Democrats this week to try derailing plans to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Bellevue Republican, who worked as a campaign chairwoman on President Bush's election team, stunned some in the oil industry by supporting efforts to strip the ANWR drilling plans from Bush's energy bill late Wednesday.
The move ultimately failed, and Dunn supported the energy package with the ANWR provision still intact. But the vote gave a small victory to conservation groups, who have made the Arctic refuge fight their most important environmental battle of the year.
It also highlighted the tricky balancing act of representing a suburban district that voted overwhelmingly for Dunn, yet also voted for Democrats Al Gore and Maria Cantwell.
"Is there such a thing as progressive conservatives?" asked John Meyers, who worked on Dunn's re-election campaign last fall. "The joke in the 8th District is that you should vote pro-gun but argue anti-National Rifle Association."
Dunn was unavailable to discuss her vote yesterday. Her staff said she was in meetings and at the Capitol. In a prepared statement, she explained her vote this way:
"While I support a national energy policy that addresses our short- and long-term energy needs, I believe that before we consider production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge we must better understand the volume of the oil and gas reserves and the environmental impacts of development."
Dunn's chief of staff, Doug Badger, said the congresswoman felt that efforts to drill in the refuge had moved too far, too fast. Information on the amount and location of oil there is old, and there has not been enough of a public conversation, he said.
Bush and some Republicans contend that exploring for oil in the refuge is necessary to help eliminate the nation's reliance on foreign oil. Opponents want to preserve the 19-million-acre refuge and object to development of any kind.
Dunn's decision to break ranks with her party surprised Roger Herrera, a lobbyist with the pro-drilling group Arctic Power.
"We spent many, many weeks going over the House membership list with a fine-tooth comb," he said. "We looked at her record, we went to her office, we had a meeting with her, and all those led us to believe she was going to be on our side."
But a day or two before the vote, he said, Dunn told House Whip Tom Delay, R-Texas, that she was voting against drilling.
"To lose her a few days before the vote was a nasty surprise," Herrera said.
Mainstream environmental groups have long been critical of Dunn. She consistently votes for less than 10 percent of the measures supported by the League of Conservation Voters. Some suggested her decision was a recognition that Republicans in her district who vote against environmental interests ultimately lose.
"I've always believed Jennifer was a pretty astute political person," said the Sierra Club's Bill Arthur. "If I was her, I would have stopped to look around. The environment is an issue that matters to a lot of people."
But Republican consultant Brett Bader said he suspects Dunn was merely representing the views of her constituents — a view he thinks has been consistent through the decade since drilling first became an issue.
"Concerns over opening up ANWR are pretty strong in the 8th," said Bader, with the Madison Group in Bellevue. "I suspect her predecessor (Rod Chandler) would have voted the same way."
Badger, too, maintained that Dunn was not inoculating herself against criticisms from environmental groups. He pointed out that she has supported proposals to allow drilling for oil and gas in national monuments — which environmental groups oppose. |
