[BCNnet] FW: NYTimes.com Article: Republicans Set to Spell Out Plan for Oil Drilling in Refuge

[Woeltje, Chris]

Thought everyone out there would find this interesting.

Chris Woeltje
Naperville, IL
cwoeltje@ballseed.com


Republicans Set to Spell Out Plan for Oil Drilling in Refuge

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - Republican authors of the emerging
energy bill will formally propose opening the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as they begin to
reveal the more contentious elements of the legislation
this week, Congressional officials say. 

A draft of the measure, to be made public as early as
Monday, will incorporate a House-passed plan to let oil and
gas companies begin exploration while confining production
plants to 2,000 acres on the coastal plain of the 19
million-acre refuge, officials said. 

The proposal is part of a new set of agreements between
Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico and Representative
Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, the two Republicans who are
leading the energy negotiations. It is being released for
review by others involved in the energy talks and for
eventual consideration by the conference committee. 

The two lawmakers have made clear they support drilling in
the refuge, but their decision to try to add it to the
legislation at this stage of the negotiations is certain to
reignite strong resistance to the drilling plan from Senate
opponents and conservation groups. 

Drilling proponents said they hoped to entice a few
Democrats and moderate Republicans who oppose the Alaskan
exploration by emphasizing other pet projects and programs
that will be included in the overall measure. For instance,
projects that benefit the coal industry and a plan to
increase the use of corn-based ethanol have significant
Democratic backing. 

"Some Democratic senators say if some things are in there,
they will vote for this bill no matter what," one Senate
aide said. "What we are going to do is really put it to the
test." 

A senior Democratic aide, however, pointed to past Senate
votes against the drilling plan. 

"They have tried to link it to lots of different things,"
said Robert M. Simon, the top staff member for Democrats on
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

Mr. Domenici has said repeatedly that he will not include
the drilling in the final version of the measure if he does
not have the 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. 

"We're going to have to determine whether the inclusion of
ANWR will kill this or not," he said last week after a
meeting with President Bush. "If it's going to kill it,
it's not going to be in. But if we can pass it with it on
there, it's going to be on there. And everybody understands
that." 

Even if Republicans eventually have to drop the drilling
plan to pass the final bill, some acknowledge potential
benefits in that result: they can then point to the
concession on drilling to quiet Democrats unhappy that the
bill is being written mainly by Republicans and
environmental groups critical of the measure's benefits for
the energy industry. 

Last week's energy negotiations were devoted to less
divisive subjects, like energy efficiency and hydrogen
fuels. But with Congressional leaders now hoping to deliver
a bill to Mr. Bush by mid-October, the talks will enter a
more intense phase in the days ahead. 

Besides the language on the Alaska drilling, the authors of
the measure intend to unveil proposals on ethanol,
automobile mileage and hydropower - all issues that have
been contentious in the past. 

Those disputes have helped stall the energy measure in
Congress for the last two years. But the August blackout
provided new momentum for energy policy and made complex
legislation governing the nation's electric power industry
a central focus of the energy bill debate. Aides said the
proposed electricity provisions, which are being heavily
lobbied by the utility industry, could be released this
week. 

In anticipation of a new push for arctic drilling, Senate
Democrats have been making their sentiments known. Last
week, they announced that 43 senators had signed letters
urging the negotiators to keep drilling out of the final
measure, more than enough to block it if they all supported
a filibuster. 

"If the energy bill contains drilling in ANWR, it's in for
a rough ride," said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of
Illinois. In votes on the issue this year and in 2002,
drilling opponents prevailed both times with more than 50
votes. 

The position that the energy bill sponsors will advocate
was adopted by the House in April after Democrats fell
short in their push to kill it. It requires the Department
of Interior to create an "environmentally sound" oil and
gas leasing program within the refuge. To ease criticism,
the area open to production and the accompanying support
facilities would be limited to 2,000 acres. 

Opponents of the proposal said any exploration could spoil
the wilderness and harm wildlife there and complained that
the 2,000 acres could be scattered along the refuge's 1.5
million-acre coastal plain. 

Mr. Tauzin said lawmakers should wait until they saw the
final proposal on the arctic drilling before making up
their minds. 

"There are 30 different versions of what you might do in
ANWR," he said, "from full-blown exploration to all sorts
of different iterations, some involving protecting other
lands, some involving swapping lands, some involving
putting millions of acres of land into special protection."


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/22/politics/22ENER.html?ex=1065250841&ei=
1&en=b42961b49796165c


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