Reply #10: Arctic drilling supporters plot new tactic

[Judi Lynn]

Arctic drilling supporters plot new tactic

Sunday, August 7, 2005; Posted: 7:36 p.m. EDT (23:36 GMT)

What Is This? WASHINGTON (AP) -- Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill that President Bush has championed and will sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

But the fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will flare anew in Congress next month with drilling advocates saying they have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen.

Tapping what is believed to be at least 10 billion barrels of oil within the refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain has been the centerpiece of Bush's energy agenda dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2000. Bush has repeatedly said the oil is important to the nation's national and economic security.

But the idea that drilling proponents might win has produced outrage among environmentalists, who see the region as a pristine refuge where caribou, polar bears, migratory birds and other wildlife thrive and should be protected.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/07/arctic.refuge.ap/index.html