|
House ANWR offer would open 1002 area to drilling and add 10 million acres of wilderness
Steve Sutherlin, PNA managing editor
U.S. House conferees voted 10-7 on Oct. 2 to accept a modified House offer to the Senate on oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that would open the 1002 area to drilling and increase the wilderness area in the refuge by 10.2 million acres. The size of the 1002 area proposed for oil exploration would not be affected.
The proposal sets aside a total of 17.4 million acres of wilderness in the refuge, the largest single designation of wilderness ever made in one geographic place, according to Rep W.J. ‘Billy’ Tauzin, chairman of the conference committee.
The offer will now be sent to the Senate side of the conference committee for consideration. The Senate members, largely Democrats, could pass the House offer, vote it down, ignore it, or send an amended version back to the House side of the conference committee for reconsideration.
The conference committee is attempting to hash through the ANWR issue and other issues such as ethanol mandates and climate change, in order to move the energy bill to the full bodies of the House and Senate for a vote. Time is of the essence because Congress plans to adjourn in mid-October.
Whipping a dead horse? During discussion of the ANWR offer in the conference committee, friends and foes of drilling argued vigorously, despite increasing pessimism on the part of observers about the prospects for an energy bill to pass this session.
“It’s now in the hands of Sen. Bingaman for his conferees to accept or reject it,” Roger Herrera, Washington, D.C. coordinator for pro-drilling group Arctic Power, told PNA Oct. 2.
If the energy bill makes it out of committee, Herrera said, it would need the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a vocal drilling opponent, to reach the Senate floor in time for a vote.
“It’s not impossible,” Herrera said, but he added that the spirit of compromise on ANWR seemed to be missing on the part of Senate Democrats.
“If today is any indication, the energy bill is going to die,” he said.
“Alaskans want this, Alaskans are for this proposal,” Tauzin told the committee. He said recent interruptions in supply because of hurricane threats in the Gulf of Mexico underscored the need to diversify domestic sources of energy.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said oil company representations of the footprint of drilling operations in the refuge are misleading.
“Drilling oil is a messy, inexact and unpredictable business,” he said.
Markey displayed a map that showed drilling activity spread across the 1002 area, based, he said on a 1987 study of drilling in ANWR.
“My comment to my friend from Massachusetts is, so what?” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., adding that ice roads and other new technology will minimize or eliminate long-term evidence of oil development in the area.
“Where are we going to get the energy for the next generation?” asked Rep. Don Young.
Murkowski promotes compromise Following the vote, Sen. Frank Murkowski made a presentation to the conference that showed wintertime development on the North Slope using ice roads, followed by a summertime photo of the same areas showing little evidence of drilling.
Murkowski said oil development was important to the people who live in Alaska, and he reminded the committee that Alaska was entitled to develop its resources under the pact it made with Congress at statehood.
Murkowski said he was willing to compromise on energy issues that were important to other members of the conference committee, and he expected drilling opponents to compromise on ANWR in return.
| 