One Step Closer To ANWR Drilling

Today three Democratic Senators made the prospects of future drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) a bigger reality by voting against an amendment that would have removed drilling authority from a budget reconciliation bill.

The three were Hawaiian Senators Akaka and Inouye, and Senator Landrieu from Louisiana. Their votes canceled out the "Yea" votes of seven Republican Senators, Chafee, Coleman, Collins, DeWine, McCain, Smith and Snowe.

We of course remember weepy Landrieu after hurricane Katrina ravaged her state and the city of New Orleans.

Unfortunately, Mary "Quite Contrary" Landrieu isn't so concerned about the ravages oil drilling will do to the refuge (which would become far less deserving of such an appelation). Her vote helped defeat Washington Senator Maria Cantwell's amendment by the slimmest of margins 48-51.

(Washington Post) A provision to allow drilling in the refuge was dropped from an energy bill that President Bush signed into law in August, but proponents in the Republican-controlled Senate attached it to the budget reconciliation bill. Under U.S. law, the budget bill cannot be filibustered, and Democrats thus cannot block the provision -- or the bill as a whole -- on a party-line vote.

Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, accused drilling proponents of resorting to an "irresponsible manipulation of the budget process" in order to approve drilling in the refuge.

"Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing gas prices," she said in a statement.

The newspaper goes on:

Environmentalists also challenge the claims that drilling would not harm the refuge, saying that more than 500 spills a year have been reported from the adjacent Prudhoe Bay oil fields since 1996.

"We need to give our children a future less dependent on fossil fuel," Cantwell said. "According to the Energy Department's latest analysis, even if oil companies drill in the wildlife refuge and hit peak production, it will only lower gas prices by a penny per gallon."

Lydia Weiss, an Arctic National Wildlife Refuge specialist at Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington-based environmental group, said drilling opponents still hope to prevail despite the defeat of the Cantwell amendment. She said important differences remain between the Senate and House versions of the budget reconciliation bill and that the package could still founder over some "highly controversial measures," such as provisions on oil drilling on the Continental Shelf and cuts in the Medicaid and food stamp programs.

"We're calling on all senators who are interested in protecting this refuge" to vote against the budget reconciliation bill, Weiss said. "A vote for this budget bill is a vote to drill in the Arctic refuge."

The Seattle Times today included an editorial warning House Representative Dave Reichert (WA 8th District) that he should strongly consider what his constituents would want on the upcoming House ANWR vote.

Reichert's suburban Eastside 8th District is no longer the safe, Republican sinecure his predecessor, Jennifer Dunn, was elected to in 1992. Democrats are a greater part of the mix, as results of recent presidential and legislative elections attest. Environmental values cross party lines in this state, and the 8th District is a prime example.

As a junior representative in D.C. Reichert has often tended to just go with the flow and vote with the Republican block. On rare occasions he's actually considered what his constituents position would be. Will he do so this time, or will he just toe the line?

What is clear is that the Republican tactic of tieing ANWR drilling to a budget bill is just another way of them thumbing their collective noses at the nation. The battle is far from over, but today Cantwell's valiant effort came up short.