Don't get too down about ANWR just yet

[SaveElmer]

We are a long way from any actual drilling...this is one vote. This thing is gonna be fought out in every congress for the next 10 years...and in the courts. Gives us ammunition, if we use it right, to bring home the actual damage voting republican has caused.

[mzmolly]

1. Hope so.

:hi:

[Jo March]

2. Time to give more money to the Sierra Club

and start writing more letters.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. The NRDC...

is the team to win this one. They will be getting some $$$ from me in memory of this vote.

[quinnox]

3. Yea, it isn't over yet

Leases won't even be issued until 2007, and drilling won't start for years after that.

If a Dem president gets in office in 2008, this can be reversed.

[adigal]

4. How about if there is a Dem house in 2006???

I am just sick over this.

[quinnox]

5. Sure, if they retook control

then they could reverse it then, but I think it's unlikely Dems will retake the House in 2006, but you never know.

[flpoljunkie]

12. Not according to this AP article. They can start drilling this year!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40648-2005Mar16?language=printer

Senate Votes to Allow Arctic Drilling


By H. JOSEF HEBERT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 16, 2005; 2:10 PM

WASHINGTON - Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush.

The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster - a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies.

The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said.

[SaveElmer]

15. Drilling supporters ?

What do you expect them to say. Plus it;s not the actual drilling, it's the approvla of drilling. Leases won't be finalized until 2007 and drilling won't start until extensive surveys are done. And even with this God-forsaken administration there are regulatory procedures that must be followed. No, there is plenty of time to reverse this!

The benefit is that the threats Democrats have been warning about are now being made real. This, SS, bankruptcy, all taken by many as political scare tactics are now real. Democrats should be able to gain ground on this!

[incapsulated]

6. But they are one step closer

A step we have been able to hold back for years, until now.

This is going to be a real fight, now, as long as the repukes have the majority.

Support environmental orgs, certainly. But we really need to work our collective asses off for 2006.

[MaineDem]

7. Doesn't the Senate bill still have to be reconciled with the House one?

This could come out in the wash of reconciliation.

One can only hope.

[seafan]

9. Please clarify this confusing statement from the article for me.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_go_co/arctic_drilling&printer=1

The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said....


The way this is written, does it mean that *the approval* will occur later this year, OR if the *drilling* will occur later this year?

Thanks!

[Redneck Socialist]

10. Approval will occur later this year, assuming that...

the budget passes the Senate, the proposal survives conference committee with the house and the final budget passes both houses of congress and gets signed by bushco.

So the fights not over, it just gets even harder now.

[seafan]

14. Many thanks. I think this fight is still ultimately winnable.

I agree with other posters here in that we need to remove those Dems who:

Voted to allow ANWR drilling.

And those who voted for Gonzales.

And those who voted for Rice.

And those who voted for the bankruptcy bill.

And others who vote against the people's interests and security.


We must support Democratic candidates who will uphold what is right, and retire those who don't.

This is the bottom line.

[Redneck Socialist]

16. I hope you are right

myself I'm not so hopeful. I think we will see ANWR opened to drilling eventually.

As for your other point, I don't understand Democrats who are unwilling to act as the opposition party and actually oppose a few things here and there. It doesn't seem to be that hard a concept to grasp.

[chaska]

11. Focus. The central problem here is Dems voting like Pugs.

Get the bastards. Hurt 'em now, or they'll keep doing it. Harass the hell out of Landrieu, et al. Who the hell do they think they are?

[Rainbowreflect]

13. I hope your right, but now all I can do is cry.

I am so sick & tired of our government supporting nothing but death & destruction.

[wiggs]

17. Good point. But

...we have shown little skill at using issues to our advantage. Prior to the last election, polls show that only 7% of the nation favored weakening environmental laws. Environmental issues ALONE should have been enough for shrewd democratic candidates to win in 2004 against the worst environmental administration ever....yet we somehow find a way to snatch defeat from victory.

[SaveElmer]

19. True...but a crucial difference

In the past we have been fighting against an imagined threat...now that threat is real...it should be a far easier sell.

[GoSolar]

18. Thanks.

Needed this post.