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Vol. 10, No. 50 Week of December 11, 2005
Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry

ANWR: The home stretch

White House, congressional leaders, Stevens team to win coastal plain drilling

Rose Ragsdale

Petroleum News Contributing Writer

As the push to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling nears the finish line, key supporters are speaking out in the days leading up to Congress’ Christmas recess.

President Bush, who spoke on the strength of the U.S. economy in North Carolina Dec. 5, cited the need to develop ANWR’s oil resource in his remarks.

“We’ve got to produce and refine more crude oil and natural gas here at home in environmentally sensitive ways, and we can do that. The most promising site for energy in America is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska,” Bush told a crowd in Kernersville, N.C.

Bush has listed oil development in ANWR as a top priority of his energy policy. He reiterated the key facts in the ANWR debate, including the small, 2,000-acre footprint needed for development and little or no impact on the land or wildlife from that development activity.

“I can’t tell you how important I think it is for the United States Congress to authorize a pro-growth, pro-jobs, (and) pro-environment exploration of ANWR,” Bush added.

Speaking the day before the U.S. House of Representatives reconvened after the Thanksgiving recess in Washington, D.C., Bush apparently timed his remarks to be heard in Congress where House-Senate negotiators are set to take up budget reconciliation legislation that includes ANWR drilling.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at a press briefing the last week in November that the White House would fight for ANWR’s inclusion in the final bill.

Talks heat up behind scenes

Though the U.S. Senate was scheduled to resume work Dec. 12, many senators returned to work early, according to pro-ANWR lobbyist Roger Herrera.

“Quite a number of the senators are here, and they’re all working away,” Herrera said Dec. 7. “There’s a lot going on, but it’s all behind the scenes.”

ANWR oil development is part of the Senate’s $35 billion version of a budget reconciliation package that leaders from both chambers are currently negotiating in conference. A $50 billion House version of the deficit reduction measure does not include ANWR.

A spokeswoman for the Senate Budget Committee told reporters she expects conferees will be named when the Senate returns Dec. 12, and said staff- and member-level discussions have already occurred. “We are hopeful a conference report will be voted on before Christmas break,” she added. The measure would move as a standalone “reconciliation” bill, which is not subject to filibuster in the Senate.

Among those working to keep ANWR drilling in the bill is Alaska’s powerful senior Sen. Ted Stevens. House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters Dec. 5 that Stevens has turned his full attention to House Democrats to gain support for ANWR drilling.

A few dozen House Democrats supported ANWR drilling in a key vote in April, but the minority party has stuck together over the past month in decisive budget votes on the House floor. If Stevens can win back this support, it could pave the way for Arctic drilling language appearing in a House-Senate budget reconciliation conference report.

“He has discussed his plan with me, and I would be pleased to see it result in some House Democrats who would like to vote for deficit reduction including ANWR,” said Blunt, who avoided providing details.

A spokeswoman for Stevens confirmed that he’s working toward opening ANWR through the reconciliation process but did not comment on the idea of courting House Democrats.

The solidarity of House Democrats on ANWR drilling has won them praise from the environmental community, but Blunt said the anti-energy votes could come back to hurt Democratic congressmen, especially those representing energy states.

“You can’t have people from significant oil and gas areas voting against measures, like refinery reform measures, that they have always voted for,” he told E&E Daily. “You can’t have them doing that without having some price ultimately paid.”

Herrera said the backroom negotiations now under way in Congress are typical of what happens when a controversial bill is in conference. “We’re glad it’s happening. It suggests that ANWR still is very much in play and that an agreement will be reached,” he added.



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