Alaska Refuge Drilling OK’d in Committee

[kerrygoddess]

Alaska Refuge Drilling OK’d in Committee
October 19th, 2005

The Senate Energy Committee approved a proposal this morning that “calls for the Interior Department to put up for bid by Oct. 1, 2010 two oil leases in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” This cleared the way for inserting drilling in an Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into a massive budget proposal, thus assuring that ANWR drilling opponents will not be able to filibuster the proposal to block the oil development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

By making the issue part of a complex budget reconciliation process, supporters will be able to keep opponents from resorting to a filibuster to block the measure. Still, it’s uncertain whether the broader budget measure, which is aimed at reconciling spending with self-imposed budget ceilings, actually will be enacted by Congress.

Three Democratic amendments were shot down in Committee — the Cantwell amendment, the Bingaman amendment and the Wyden amendment.

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