GOP takes another stab at drilling in Alaska refuge

[Judi Lynn]

GOP takes another stab at drilling in Alaska refuge
Changes in Senate make Republicans more confident
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Monday, February 7, 2005


Washington -- For more than a decade, Republicans in Congress have been frustrated as first President Bill Clinton and then Senate Democrats blocked their efforts to allow oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

But after the November election, which added four new Republican senators -- and ousted several anti-drilling Democrats -- proponents are now bullish they will achieve their goal of opening what they say is America's largest untapped oil reserve.

"This is probably our best shot at actually getting it through and to the president's desk," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, the Tracy Republican who has become the House's most vocal advocate for drilling in the refuge.
(snip)

Pombo's committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday and is expected to approve a new energy bill that will include provisions to open the Alaskan refuge to drilling. The bill is nearly identical to one passed by the House last year, although it would add a requirement for speedier decisions by federal agencies on lease applications and permits to drill for oil and gas on public lands.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/07/MNGU8B751B1.DTL

[Maddy McCall]

1. Using the logic of some DUers, Alaska went red...

so this is their just reward. I don't agree with that philosophy--after all, whether we live in Alaska or not, this is OUR country, but some DUers have pushed that kind of ideology, especially when bad things happen to the south.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Same old tricks. ANWR is buried in a must-pass spending bill and will

probably not be taken out of it before it comes up for a vote.

[Supersedeas]

7. definitely a Conference Committee alert

[rodeodance]

3. "dig and drill" mentality of the Repugs/ Cheney

[zulchzulu]

4. Dems should call it "10 Years of Drilling for 6 Months of Oil" Bill

That's what it would be.

[Alpharetta]

5. It's the revenge of the snail darter

The Republicans want to drill for the symbolic value of defiling a pristine landscape and ecosystem.

It's just like with Social Security. Republicans won't be happy until they crap on Roosevelt's grave. He is forever to be cursed by them for leading us out of the Great Depression.

[M155Y_A1CH]

6. They just waste the oil

How backwards of them to seek new oil when we really need renewable energy sources instead. How much oil did we waste on SUVs and minivans when the CAFE standards were allowed to lapse. How much oil did we waste by not investing in alternatives in a big way. We should work toward a wiser use of the energy resources we already have before we open any new fields to plunder.

[primavera]

8. Naturally

It's almost universally unpopular, it destroys the environment, encourages energy gluttony, and furnishes GOP campaign contributors with hefty profits at the expense of everyone else on the planet. To the GOP mindset, what's not to like?

[Ernesto]

9. Think of a country that would invade another country for oil, kill people

by the thousands, while protecting it's wild life by not drilling on it's own soil.
Before you flame me: I'm against the war & against drilling in the Arctic. I only ask this question because of how I think the Arab world must view us.