Arctic refuge drilling rides on budget vote ( a slap in the face gimmick)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051102/ts_nm/bush_leak_italy_dc
Thursday, November 3, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Arctic refuge drilling rides on budget vote

By Craig Welch

Seattle Times staff reporter

The Senate plans to vote today on a provision to allow drilling on a portion of ANWR's windswept coastal plain, kicking off a last-minute scramble to settle the issue before lawmakers head home for the holidays.

But how Congress ultimately resolves the country's most divisive environmental battle may have little to do with caribou, wilderness or the need for domestic energy. Republican leaders are including the provision in a budget package immune from filibuster by Democrats, so the future of the refuge ultimately may be driven by issues having nothing to do with oil.

"The real determinant is not ANWR, but issues such as Medicaid, Medicare and budget cuts," said John Katz, a special adviser to Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, and a lobbyist for the state in Washington, D.C. "For me, the real question is, will Congress pass a budget package at all?"

The ANWR fight has grown over the decades from an unlikely proposal about remote tundra to a marquee national debate pitting the Republican energy strategy and the quest for domestic oil against Democrats' fight to preserve pristine wild lands.

Democrats and a half-dozen moderate Republicans in the past have halted drilling on the 19 million-acre refuge by threatening filibusters, but those aren't allowed on budget bills...........

[rodeodance]

1. I read someplace that there is guarantee that this oil will go to the US.

."It could supply every drop of oil for the entire state of Florida for 29 years," Domenici said.

[skooooo]

2. Yeah, and the war in Iraq will pay for itself..

...with the oil we'll get from there.

[rodeodance]

3. It's been a 25 year battle as it is not over yet.

....After a 25-year battle between environmentalists and the oil industry, Congress is embarking on the Republican Party's best chance in decades to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling.

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

[rodeodance]

4. See here-the House may be our last chance-Get busy-call your Reps.

....Later this month: Leaders of both houses of Congress will work out differences between their budget bills, including changing provisions to get enough votes in both houses to approve it.

But with so many other program cuts and tax issues in play, differences between Republicans in the House and Senate, and a chaotic budget process in general, no one dares predict the future of ANWR with certainty.

Although Senate Republicans say they are optimistic that today's vote will pass, a battle looms in the House, where Democrats have been unusually united in opposition to drilling and Republicans may be less organized because of the indictment of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

"We've all been at this so long that we continue to walk on pins and needles," said Jerry Hood, a lobbyist with Arctic Power, a coalition of private and Alaska-native corporations that want drilling. "This is a town where anything can happen."

[rodeodance]

5. says a battle may actually loom in the House where Dems are united.

..Although Senate Republicans say they are optimistic that today's vote will pass, a battle looms in the House, where Democrats have been unusually united in opposition to drilling and Republicans may be less organized because of the indictment of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

[cornermouse]

6. I believe that was part of what they were fighting over yesterday.

I don't know how it resolved. But even if they did, the oil companies would simply turn it into a shell game and sell oil from other U.S. facilities overseas. They aren't going to shut off any avenues of revenue that they are currently enjoying.

That said, considering their plans for Medicare and Medicaid, we should just deep six the whole thing and start over from the beginning. 300,000 people in need will not see any difference between the budget they plan to pass and no budget at all.

[DanCa]

7. Is anyone else worried that this is an environmental disaster waitting to

happen? I am not just talking about destroying a picturesque setting. I am genuinely world that with the whacky weather were having that this will somehow lead to even greater huricanes and hasten global warming.