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Stevens urges state Legislature to persist in ANWR battle Arctic Power funding advances from House Finance Committee, pro-ANWR development group will stage intense three-month campaign Steve Sutherlin PNA Managing Editor
It’s highly important that the state continue the effort to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for exploration, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens told a joint session of the Alaska Legislature Jan.22. The state must continue its lobbying efforts and approve additional funds for Arctic Power, the group that is leading the charge on the issue in Washington, in order for the controversial ANWR drilling provision to have a chance in the Senate.
“If Senate Majority Leader Daschle continues to oppose ANWR, we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Stevens said.
Opposition of the Democratic leadership in the Senate continues to make ANWR exploration a “long shot,” Stevens said, although there are a number of positive factors for ANWR as well. International conditions, which include the nation’s energy dependency on foreign sources, and the staunch support of the president, make ANWR a possibility. In light of the war on terrorism, and the instability of major energy suppliers such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, “anything could happen” on the energy front. If energy prices spike higher, or if there is a constriction in supply, the issue of ANWR exploration could get a sudden and strong boost in the Senate.
Stevens said his fellow Senator from Alaska, Frank Murkowski, has been the spark plug for the issue in the Senate. Murkowski is ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee.
“Frank has worked long and hard on this,” Stevens said.
Stevens said there was strong interest in Alaska from independent oil companies, and that in addition to Arctic activity, the state could expect to see substantial new activity in Cook Inlet, based on Steven’s discussions with the leader of a major independent oil and gas company.
“The independents will come to Alaska, they have nowhere else to go,” Stevens said.
Stevens also said he would support federal incentives for oil and gas exploration in remote areas where unemployment is high and energy costs are steep.
Arctic Power appropriation advances Earlier Jan. 22, a bill to appropriate $1 million of state money for Arctic Power sailed through the House Finance Committee, despite environmentalist objections to the bill. With the $2 million the Legislature granted to the group last year, HB 334 would raise the state’s contribution to Arctic Power to a total of $3 million since the fiscal year began July 31.
An amendment added to the bill called for an additional $100,000 to be earmarked for the City of Kaktovik to deal with costs of hosting ANWR visitors, and to make a film about the city’s support for ANWR development. Kaktovik is the only community within the boundaries of the wildlife refuge, and is a frequent jumping off point for visitors to the area.
The funds will support an intense three-month campaign to open ANWR for exploration, said Arctic Power Executive Director Kim Duke.
Duke said recent developments, such as the endorsement of ANWR drilling by Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., and the change to a pro-development editorial stance at the Chicago Tribune underscored the effectiveness of Arctic Power’s efforts to advance the issue.
The president will likely include a call to open ANWR in his state of the union address, Duke said.
The committee heard public testimony against the appropriation, saying that the expense was irresponsible in the face of budget deficits, questioning the legality of the appropriation, and saying that the oil companies should put up more of the money to open ANWR, because the companies would benefit more than the state if ANWR were opened.
According to Arctic Power, 47 percent of its 2001 budget and 32 percent of its 2000 budget came from the state.
House Finance Committee Co-Chairman Eldon Mulder said that $700,000 of the $1 million for Arctic Power came from money that had been earmarked for gas pipeline work but was unneeded.
At PNA press time Jan. 23, the bill was scheduled for a vote later in the day on the House floor.
ANWR effort faces opposition in Senate In October, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle pulled the energy bill out of the energy committee, effectively taking control of energy consideration by the Senate.
“This action by the Democrat majority has taken the nation’s energy security and made it a partisan issue, locking out Republicans and the entire committee process. The Senate Democrat leadership has abandoned the bipartisan approach established in the House when Republicans and Democrats came together to pass their energy bill (H.R. 4),” Murkowski said in response to Daschle’s action.
The energy bill that passed the house contained a provision approving development in ANWR.
The strategy of Daschle and Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman to suspend mark up of national energy legislation and bypass the normal committee process was met with substantial criticism in Washington, and it constituted an admission that Bingaman did not have support in the committee to kill ANWR development, an Arctic Power spokesman told PNA Oct 11.
In December, just before adjournment for the holidays, Daschle introduced his own energy bill, which did not contain a provision to open ANWR. A provision to open ANWR, if added as an amendment to the energy bill or another bill must garner a 60 percent margin to survive a vote of cloture in the Senate.
Murkowski said in remarks to Commonwealth North in Anchorage Jan. 15 that the percentage of supporters in the Senate was in the “mid-fifties.”
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