Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic

[rodeodance]

This article is encouraging--Read all.
According to this article, if this bill does pass--it will truly be because Republicans want to crow about winning!!!!!



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21refuge.html?th

February 21, 2005
Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic
By JEFF GERTH

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - George W. Bush first proposed drilling for oil in a small part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska in 2000, after oil industry experts helped his presidential campaign develop an energy plan. Five years later, he is pushing the proposal again, saying the nation urgently needs to increase domestic production.

But if Mr. Bush's drilling plan passes in Congress after what is expected to be a fierce fight, it may prove to be a triumph of politics over geology.

Once allied, the administration and the oil industry are now far apart on the issue. The major oil companies are largely uninterested in drilling in the refuge, skeptical about the potential there. Even the plan's most optimistic backers agree that any oil from the refuge would meet only a tiny fraction of America's needs.

While Democrats have repeatedly blocked the drilling plan, many legislators believe it has its best chance of passage this year, because of a Republican-led White House and Congress and tighter energy supplies. Though the oil industry is on the sidelines, the president still has plenty of allies. The Alaska Congressional delegation is eager for the revenue and jobs drilling could provide. Other legislators favor exploring the refuge because more promising prospects, like drilling off the coasts of Florida or California, are not politically palatable. And many Republicans hope to claim opening the refuge to exploration as a victory in the long-running conflict between development interests and environmentalists.

[enough]

1. Also they are pushing it for another more troubling reason.

snip from page 2 of the article>

Mr. Hunt, through an aide, declined an interview request. Others who advised Mr. Bush on his energy plan said including the refuge was seen as a political maneuver to open the door to more geologically promising prospects off the coasts of California and Florida. Those areas, where tests have found oil, have been blocked for years by federal moratoriums because of political and environmental concerns.
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"If you can't do ANWR," said Matthew R. Simmons, a Houston investment banker for the energy industry and a Bush adviser in 2000, "you'll never be able to drill in the promising areas."

snip>

[corbett]

2. Interesting Development

I recently got to hear the CEO of ChevronTexaco take a very moderate position on the move away from fossil fuels toward hydrogen for transportation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=145x3791

[Rose Siding]

3. dupe- here's a link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1253054