Dave Reichert Said He Opposed Arctic Refuge Drilling Then Voted To Allow It
WASHINGTON — Less than three weeks after signing onto a letter opposing the latest GOP-led effort to open up 1.5 million acres of Alaska’s fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development, six House Republicans voted in favor of a tax bill that allows just that.
In a late November letter to congressional party leaders, GOP Reps. Dave Reichert (Wash.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Ryan Costello (Pa.), Patrick Meehan (Pa.), Mark Sanford (S.C.) and Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) ― and six of their colleagues ― said the refuge, also known as ANWR, “stands as a symbol of our nation’s strong and enduring natural legacy.”
“Any development footprint in the refuge stands to disrupt this fragile, critically important landscape,” the group wrote to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
But on Tuesday, Reichert, Fitzpatrick, Costello, Meehan, Sanford and Curbelo all voted in favor of the final tax proposal. The bill includes a provision, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that would require Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve at least two lease sales for drilling — each covering no less than 400,000 acres — in the refuge’s coastal plain area. This region in northeast Alaska, also know as the 1002 Area, is home to polar bears, moose and caribou, and it has been the subject of a decades-long battle between energy companies and conservationists.
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