Raiders of the Lost Arctic

We are closer than ever before to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, after a 51-48 vote in the Senate this week, Reuters reports.

A report from Grist, the online environmental magazine:

The Rend Is Near
Senate votes to keep Arctic Refuge drilling in budget bill

The campaign to keep oil drills out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has just been dealt what could be a fatal blow. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced an amendment to drop refuge-drilling language from a filibuster-proof federal budget bill; the Senate voted down that amendment, 48 to 51, then passed the budget bill. "This is too important a question to slide into the budget bill," Cantwell said. "We are setting a very,very dangerous precedent."

But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is psyched. "America can't afford $3-a-gallon gasoline and we can't afford to depend on sources hostile to the United States," he said, though he failed to explain how drilling in the refuge would solve either problem. The Senate budget bill passed 52-47; the House version, which also includes the drilling language, will be voted on as early as next week. The fate of the final compromise budget bill is unclear.

The House has voted to allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge a handful of times in the last four years, but that was usually with support from moderate Democrats. The current highly controversial budget reconciliation package is expected to get a "no" vote from all House Democrats, and there are 24 House Republicans who've publicly voiced their opposition to the Arctic Refuge provision being included in the budget bill via a letter to Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), chair of the House Resources Committee. "If those 24 GOP representatives stand by their convictions, the House could very well stop the ANWR provision in its tracks," said Moore of the Alaska Wilderness League.

Wisconsin's F. James Sensenbrenner was one of the signers of the letter to Pombo. His objection is to including the controversial issue in the budget bill instead of handling it separately. Whether that is enough to cause him to vote against the entire budget bill is another question.

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