Reply #25: Last year Anwr WAS in the house bill - and not in the Senate

[salin]

The GOP strategy =

Focus all debate on Anwr - keep it in and push hard so any compromise is focused on Anwr - and that all special interest groups (re: environmental) focus all energy and $$$$$ on fighting Anwr.

Thus - in house fight on Anwr - repubs win - stays in;

in senate - fight on Anwr - dems win - gets out BUT is still in the house bill.

In conference committee (where the two versions of the bill have to be hammered out into a single bill that must then go back and be passed by each house) anwr is in one version (house) and not in the other (senate). ALL citizen activity and special interest acitivity is focused on Anwr. IT is the bargaining chip.

All the rest of the deregulation; increased subsidies for big energy companies; focus on depletable with almost nothing for r&d in renewable energies - all of it - stays in and gets passed.

They are USING anwr - indeed on the hill the feeling is that the GOP doesn't really care about Anwr - it is there solely as strategy.