Senate Republicans make new push for Arctic drilling

by The Associated Press

Senate GOP strategists are mapping out a fresh plan for an early showdown over whether to allow oil drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Senate Republicans intend to push for opening ANWR by using a “filibuster-proof” legislative procedure that would prevent Democrats from blocking their move with fewer than 50 votes, according to several Senate GOP sources.

Two Senate committee chairmen — Sens. Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Don Nickles of Oklahoma — who would play central roles in the maneuver have discussed the strategy in some detail, these sources said. Both strongly favor oil development in the refuge in far northeastern Alaska.

Domenici, who is taking over as chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, would prefer the volatile issue not become entangled in broader energy legislation he wants to pursue later in the year. He said in an interview Jan. 15 that “there will be an effort” to include the refuge provision as part of the annual budget reconciliation process.

Budget reconciliation one option

Nickles spokeswoman Gayle Osterberg acknowledged discussions between Domenici and Nickles over the use of the budget process to push through an Arctic refuge provision. But Osterberg said it's “only an option the senator is looking at.”

Leading Senate Democrats — including presidential aspirants Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts, as well as Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle — have vowed to use every means available to keep a drilling provision from passing the Senate.

Those options dwindle, however, if the issue becomes entwined in the budget reconciliation where 51 senators can decide whether the measure will pass or be defeated.

In 1995 Congress gave the green light to drilling as part of a budget reconciliation package, but President Clinton vetoed it.