Pombo optimistic about ANWR’s chances

Pro-development forces joined reporters on Capitol Hill Oct. 27 to give a progress report on the fight to get Congress to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. (See related ANWR stories on pages 8 and 14.)

U.S. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo, R-Calif., led the group, which included Inupiat Eskimo leaders from inside ANWR’s borders and other North Slope communities and Chuck Harple of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Pombo thanked the group for their assistance in getting ANWR energy development language included in the Resources Committee portion of House Budget Reconciliation package Oct. 26.

He also expressed confidence that the House and U.S. Senate will pass budget legislation with ANWR drilling later this fall and President Bush will sign it into law.

Harple thanked Pombo for including project labor agreement language in the bill and assured him that the resulting good jobs will mean college educations for Teamsters’ children.

Reporters asked about the concerns of the Gwich’in people, who also live within ANWR’s borders and have opposed ANWR development.

Richard Glenn of Barrow said Gwich’in interests are similar to Inupiat interests. “We have the same fears,” he said. But the Inupiat experience with oil development at Prudhoe Bay has brought running water, flush toilets and fire departments to North Slope villages without disrupting Native lifestyles, he said, along with a confidence that ANWR can be developed responsibly.

—Rose Ragsdale