Refuge drilling rejected

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted down by a wide margin President Bush’s plans for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, turning aside arguments that the oil was needed for the nation’s security.

The vote was a blow to the administration, which repeatedly has cited development of the Alaska refuge’s oil as a centerpiece of its energy policy.

Environmentalists waged an intense campaign to protect the refuge, calling it a unique ecological treasure. Drilling supporters said their proposal contained environmental safeguards.

While the House already has approved legislation to allow development of the oil-saturated coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the size of the anti-drilling vote in the Senate may doom any prospect for a drilling measure in Congress this year.

Senate Republicans fell 14 votes short, 54-46, of the 60 needed to break a Democratic filibuster and allow a vote on putting the refuge provision into a broader energy bill.

Alaska’s two senators, who had led the fight for drilling, expressed disappointment but did not formally withdraw their amendment.

"It’s not over yet," insisted Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska. He and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, told reporters they planned still other amendments involving the refuge but gave no details.

Washington state’s senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both opposed the plan.

In a statement Thursday, Murray said: "The responsible way to address our energy problems is to focus on long-term solutions like reducing our need for oil, and investing in clean, renewable energy sources."

Democrats said the vote settles the drilling issue, and Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said he expects the amendment to be withdrawn so the Senate can go ahead and pass an energy bill.

Majority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he hopes to wrap up the energy bill next week, more than a month after the Senate began work on it.

Stevens blamed the defeat on senators who succumbed to pressure from "reactionary, radical environmentalists" and ignored the jobs that drilling in the refuge would produce. Murkowski said the votes played into the hands of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and other Middle East oil producers.

Bush has argued that the refuge’s oil can be taken without threatening the environment by using modern drilling technology with minimal disturbance of the tundra or risk to wildlife, including 123,000 caribou that use the area as summer calving grounds.

The coastal plain also is used in summer by millions of migratory birds including snow geese. Throughout the year it harbors polar bears, musk oxen and other wildlife. A recent Interior Department biological study said caribou and other wildlife could be at risk unless oil development were tightly managed.

Key developments on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

1960: President Eisenhower establishes the 9.5-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Range in northeastern Alaska, a year after Alaska statehood.

1980: Congress expands the range to 19.6 million acres, renaming it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As part of a compromise, the refuge’s 1.5-million-acre coastal plain was set aside for further study, leaving it to Congress to decide its future use.

1989: Legislation begins moving through Congress to allow development of the ANWR coastal plain’s oil resources, but it is brought to a halt by Exxon Valdez oil spill in March.

1991: An energy bill includes refuge drilling, but is blocked by a Democratic-led filibuster in the Senate.

1995: Congress passes a budget reconciliation bill that includes drilling in the refuge, but it is vetoed by President Clinton.

2001: President Bush in his energy proposal calls development of ANWR’s oil essential to meet U.S. energy needs. The House passes an energy bill that includes ANWR drilling.

2002: On April 18, Senate rejects amendment to an energy bill that would allow development of the refuge’s oil as pro-drilling forces fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster.