Oil Patch Insider

Effort scaled down, but Arctic Power still carrying ANWR banner in D.C. for Alaska

If you’re wondering whether the State of Alaska is asleep at the wheel regarding ANWR, the answer is no: Dozing maybe, but not asleep.

In May, $750,000 previously appropriated to Arctic Power for educational efforts to open the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration was reappropriated at the request of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to her office for “state gas pipeline development and marketing of North Slope gas, Alaska energy issues, and Endangered Species Act issues.”

Arctic Power is an Anchorage-based, not-for-profit grassroots organization with about 10,000 members that was founded in April 1992 to expedite congressional and presidential approval of oil exploration and production in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The governor has not totally given up on ANWR. She has provided Arctic Power with a budget of $10,000 per month to conduct an educational campaign about the benefits of opening the 1002 area to oil and gas exploration and development. (Funds to run the organization’s Anchorage and Washington, D.C., offices, each with a staff of one, are coming from private sources, an Arctic Power board member told Petroleum News.)

Still, $120,000 per year is a far cry from the multi-million dollar budgets Arctic Power has had in the past, but drilling proponents are hoping it will prove sufficient for the next few months since there is no major effort under way to open, or permanently close, the 1002 area to oil and gas drilling.

What could make Congress consider opening the 1002 area to drilling on relatively short notice?

Petroleum News sources on Capitol Hill say sustained high oil prices, another spike in oil prices, and/or events in the Middle East.

Most of the 2008 presidential candidates mention ANWR in their statements about the top issues facing the country today. What does that indicate?

“ANWR’s still an important issue,” said an aide in one of Alaska’s congressional offices, who asked not to be identified. “It could come alive again, at any given moment, depending on oil prices and Middle East politics.”

Adrian Herrera, who runs Arctic Power’s office in Washington, D.C., said he is “working closely” with John Katz, who heads up the Alaska governor’s office in D.C. The two offices are also physically close to one another, and close to Capitol Hill, he said.

In mid-September correspondence with Petroleum News, Herrera said the State of Alaska and Arctic Power are “very serious about keeping the ANWR drum beating,” so that drilling opponents “won’t assume no one is guarding Alaskan interests,” something Herrera said would be “an open welcome for groups to attempt to lock ANWR up for good.”

Arctic Power, he said, works with dozens of other special interest groups that represent seniors, farmers, chambers of commerce and scientists that actively support domestic exploration vs. importing oil.

“D.C. politics is not just votes on floors. It’s networking and coordinating groups to form coalitions to make one’s voice heard,” he said, noting that Arctic Power “is central to this process and organizes a myriad of non-profits and special interest groups to prove to Congress that it’s not just Alaskans who think ANWR is important.”

ANWR is “still America’s best and safest bet to increase its domestic energy needs,” Herrera said.

So, barring any oil price or Middle East events that could trigger pro-ANWR drilling action in Congress, what’s the prevailing mood on Capitol Hill regarding ANWR and other energy issues?

The consensus from lobbyists representing pro-drilling coalition partners is that despite the fact Democrats are running the show, Republicans, along with the President’s veto are playing the role Democrats played a year ago when they were in the minority. While ANWR is not going anywhere soon, drilling proponents say neither are any anti-ANWR provisions likely to go far this fall.

But there is concern that Alaska is “asleep at the wheel” regarding its ANWR lobby.

“A hundred and twenty thousand dollars, or whatever Arctic Power’s annual budget is, is a far cry from the millions the state has invested in ANWR lobbying and education in the past,” the Alaska congressional aide said.

Could a perceived weakness in the pro-ANWR lobby spark the drilling opponents to push to lock up ANWR?

It’s unlikely to happen this year, “as there are too many other things on the floor that are more pressing,” Herrera said. “Congress has a myriad of deadline based big issues immediately pending, first off being the Farm Bill, and then the Energy Bill, and the Internet Tax Bill.”

The battle, he said, regarding energy “will be over CAFE standards, bio-fuel mandates, and an oil tax provision. Debate will probably take place in October or November and will be as much about D’s vs. D’s as it will be about partisan politics,” he said.

“With the agenda stuffed with big issues it is unlikely ANWR will see the light of day for the rest of this year,” Herrera said. The place it would appear if it did, he said, would be as an introduction to the Energy and water or the Interior and environment sections of the appropriations bills (www.thomas.gov/home/approp/app08.html), but “this is highly unlikely.”

—Kay Cashman