Minneapolis environmentalists fear Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., may be wavering in his opposition to oil and gas drilling in the 1002 area (coastal plain) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The drilling provision is expected to be in the budget reconciliation bill that’s expected to come up for debate in late October. Coleman’s spokesman said the Minnesota Republican will support the budget bill.
Coleman still opposes drilling in ANWR and has “done everything he can” to oppose it, Tom Steward said. But he said the senator must now support the budget bill because it’s “for the greater good of Minnesota.”
The senator is “not going to vote against a budget where he’s worked very, very diligently to protect (against) draconian cuts to Medicaid and the farm safety net,” Steward said. Coleman has consistently voted against drilling and has made his views known to Republican leaders. Consequently, Steward said, Coleman has kept the campaign promise he made to Minnesotans in 2002.
“He could very well be the single vote keeping the oil rigs off the coastal plain of the refuge,” said Kristen Cummings of the National Wildlife Federation.
Two prominent Minnesota Republicans, former Gov. Arne Carlson and former Sen. David Durenberger, have urged Coleman to keep fighting drilling. In recent letter they said putting pro-drilling language in a budget bill is a “clear attempt to circumvent” an open debate and that approving it would create “a dangerous precedent” that could threaten the federal protection afforded other wilderness areas, including Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune, a McClatchy daily newspaper, carried an editorial Oct. 6 warning Coleman that to keep his campaign promise to oppose ANWR he must vote against the budget bill.
But a letter in the same edition of the Star Tribune from Andy Brehm, Coleman’s former press secretary, took Coleman’s detractors to task.
“Coleman made a covenant with Minnesota voters to oppose efforts to expand drilling in ANWR, and that is a promise he has kept as senator. Look at the facts: Every single time stand-alone legislation has come up in the Senate that would expand drilling, Coleman has voted no,” Brehm said.
“This spring, the Senate narrowly passed an amendment that added a provision authorizing drilling in ANWR to this year’s budget resolution. While Coleman … opposed that amendment, he also authored and fought for other important amendments that saved the critical Community Development Block Grant program, protected the farm safety net and prevented deep cuts to Minnesota’s Medicaid funding. Thanks to Coleman’s leadership, these vitally important amendments to Minnesota also passed and are now part of this year’s budget as well,” Brehm said.
“It is the job of a U.S. senator to do what’s best for his or her state, not one particular interest group or ideology. It appears that is exactly what Coleman will do by supporting this Minnesota-friendly budget,” Brehm said.
Drilling supports say the rising cost of gasoline since Hurricane Katrina should help them succeed this time.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who favors drilling, said a growing majority of Americans say it’s more important to develop new energy sources than to protect the environment. “We have proof that development can occur safely. Gradually, the American people are getting our message.”
Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., a drilling foe who has been involved in fights over ANWR since the late 1970s, said Republicans have devised “a clever and almost a surefire strategy” to get drilling approved by burying it in a big budget bill.
Under Senate rules, budget bills cannot be filibustered and require only a majority of votes to pass.
Evan Rice, Minnesota coordinator of Republicans for Environmental Protection, said Republicans would be hypocrites if they resorted to “procedural shenanigans” to open ANWR to drilling, comparing it to his party’s demands that Democrats allow straight up-or-down votes on judicial nominations.
