No ANWR? Veto bill, says Norton

Steve Sutherlin, PNA managing editor

If the Senate-House version of the energy bill doesn’t include a clause to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, Interior Secretary Gale Norton will ask the White House to veto it, according to Cam Toohey, special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska.

Norton said in a press conference Sept. 17 it would be better to scrap the bill altogether than give up on drilling ANWR, Toohey told PNA.

“From the Department of Interior perspective, if ANWR is not in the legislation, it does almost nothing to enhance production,” Norton said.

Norton said even if the bill includes tax incentives for drilling and calls for use of ethanol to stretch gasoline supplies, it will not do enough to promote domestic production of energy, which the administration sees as a key ingredient to a solution for the country’s energy needs.

“At this point, we really don’t see a lot that is going to significantly enhance the energy picture unless we take some steps like ANWR,” Norton said.

She said increasing energy efficiency standards will help the nation’s energy situation, but the reality is new oil and gas supplies are needed to fuel the nation’s growth.

Norton said that if Congress came up with a specific proposal to reduce the footprint of energy activities within the refuge, she would not rule out reducing the area in ANWR that could be opened to exploration, but not if it blocked access to promising prospects.

“It’s got to be something that maintains the ability to access the reserves in ANWR,” she said.

Currently a Senate-House conference committee is crafting a joint energy bill from separate House and Senate versions. The House bill contains a provision to open ANWR for drilling, but the Senate bill does not. The committee is trying to finish the bill in time for Congress to act on it before taking a recess in October.