TGP -Re:"Have a serious look -- Don't just give it the 'bullshit all conservative bullshit -- and this is the way it really is' response & I may pay some attention to you"
It seems that the R's in Congress think drilling in ANWR is Bush bullshit.
nytimes.com
March 22, 2001
Republicans' Budget Plans Ignore Arctic Oil Drilling
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
WASHINGTON, March 21 — President Bush's plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration suffered a double blow from Republicans in Congress today.
In a newly released budget for 2002, Republicans on the House Budget Committee declined to include any anticipated revenue from oil drilling in the Alaskan refuge, saying the issue would mean too big a fight for the budget process to deal with.
The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, indicated that he expected to follow suit, since at least one Republican on that committee, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, opposes drilling in the refuge.
That likely decision to leave the drilling provision out of the budget significantly complicates a bid by Frank H. Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who heads the Senate Energy Committee, to open the coastal plain of the refuge to exploration. Instead of needing 50 votes to get such a provision passed as part of his energy bill — a hurdle difficult enough — he would need to muster 60 votes to lift Senate budget rules and simply get it to the floor.
But Mr. Murkowski said in an interview that he planned to retain the provision in his bill. He maintained that there was strong support for it, that it was in the budget that President Bush will propose next month and that it would be among the recommendations being developed by a White House energy task force.
Mr. Murkowski also said he would find creative ways to get the contentious provision passed. "There are some other ways to skin the cat," the senator said.
"And as far as I'm concerned, for those who want to filibuster, Nero fiddled while Rome burned," he said of what the Bush administration has described as a growing energy crisis.
The move to leave the drilling provision out of the House budget proposal, and the likely decision to leave it out of the Senate proposal as well, illustrate the leverage that Republican moderates can exercise on environmental issues.
President Bill Clinton stood in the way of previous efforts to open the refuge to exploration, leading proponents of drilling to believe that the change in administrations offered them their best opportunity, particularly given Mr. Bush's strong support. But the Republican drilling foes are proving a major obstacle.
In addition to a number of Senate Republican moderates who oppose oil exploration in the refuge, 13 House Republicans sent a letter last Thursday to the chairman of the House Budget Committee, Representative Jim Nussle of Iowa, asking that he keep the provision out of the budget.
"We strongly believe this area should be preserved," they wrote. "A vote to the contrary would be very divisive within the Republican Party and harmful to those of us who represent constituents who oppose drilling."
But the proposal has brought a ferocious lobbying war on Capitol Hill and, as Mr. Murkowski made clear, is far from dead. President Bush and Senate Republican leaders alike argue that opening a slice of the refuge to oil exploration would make the United States less dependent on foreign oil.
Just today, Arctic Power, an Alaska group whose sole aim is to achieve drilling in the refuge, announced the creation of a coalition, the Energy Stewardship Alliance, to push for the measure. The new umbrella group includes oil companies, trade groups, transportation associations, the Teamsters' union and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
The newly formed coalition announced that it would sponsor television and radio advertisements in the Washington area over the next six days. "We can balance our need for energy and our concern for the environment," the advertisements say. "That's why 75 percent of Alaskans support energy exploration in A.N.W.R.," the initials by which the refuge is known.
Environmental groups, which say preservation of the refuge is their top priority, voiced only cautious optimism over today's turn of events. One reason is that there are countless ways to circumvent Senate rules. A popular way is to attach contentious pieces of legislation to year-end appropriations bills that must pass to keep the government running and are therefore difficult to block. It does not hurt Mr. Murkowski's cause that Senator Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is another Alaska Republican.
"There are unfortunately numerous ways they could try to defy the will of the American people by sneaking a drilling provision on legislation that would be difficult to filibuster," said Adam Kolton, director of the Alaska Wilderness League, which opposes drilling in the refuge.
Still, today's developments place a substantial hurdle in Mr. Murkowski's way.
Mr. Domenici, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he would not account for the drilling proposal within the budget blueprint if there was Republican opposition within his committee. With the Senate split 50-50 between the two parties, one vote can be enough to doom a bill.
"I'm not going to put it in if it's going to fail, and Murkowski knows that," Senator Domenici said. "I need to make sure all the members of the committee want it."
At least one, Senator Snowe, steadfastly opposes opening the refuge to oil drilling. |
