Last week, before leaving for the holidays, the Senate blocked an attempt to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling, which drilling supporters had sought to add as part of a $453 billion defense spending bill.

The ANWR refuge has been the focus of bitter wrangling in the U.S. Congress and dual controversy among those interested for more than two decades. President George W. Bush said early in his first term that the Alaska refuge could supply the same amount of oil the U.S. was importing from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In fact, the wildlife refuge may hold 10 billion barrels of oil.

Republicans contended opening ANWR to drilling is necessary to stop a steady slide in U.S. crude oil production. Senate Democrats and some moderate Republicans said the frigid wilderness and its assortment of wildlife, ranging from caribou and polar bears to peregrine falcons, should be protected.

The vote was 56-44.

The drilling provision is attached to the $453 billion defense budget for fiscal 2006, which passed the House on Monday, Dec. 19. Democrats, with help from some Republicans, used a procedural tactic known as filibuster to block consideration of the bill.

The Senate's move was a stinging defeat for Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, considered one of the Senate's most powerful members and who called the refuge's oil vital to national security and bemoaned repeated attempts over the years by opponents using the filibuster to kill drilling proposals. Stevens has fought to open the refuge to drilling since 1980.

Democrats, conversely, accused Stevens of holding hostage a military spending bill that includes money to support troops in Iraq and $29 billion for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Senators determined to protect the refuge from development found it difficult to oppose the politically popular defense bill, which has money for troops in Iraq, relief for Katrina hurricane victims and assistance for low-income families to pay energy bills.

The Alaska refuge's 1.5-million-acre coastal plain is believed to contain about 10 billion barrels of oil and possibly a reserve comparable to the Prudhoe Bay fields 65 miles to the west. Oil companies have pumped 13 billion barrels from Prudhoe since 1977.

But drilling opponents long have argued that ANWR's oil should not be exploited because of the coastal plain's fragile ecosystem and its wildlife. While the region looks bleak during its long winters and oil can be seen seeping from some of its rock formations, the coastal strip also is the calving ground for caribou and home to polar bears, musk oxen, and the annual influx of millions of migratory birds.

So, we can either drill for oil in ANWR or protect the Arctic Refuge. That's it. Do you want oil? Or do you want wildlife? Apparently, you can't have both. According to Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs at the National Center for Public Policy Research, though:

This is a false dichotomy. We can have both. And judging by our nation's ever increasing reliance on foreign oil from politically unstable portions of the globe, we must have both. Trying to explain to a tie-dyed-in-the-wool 'green' environmentalist that drilling for oil in ANWR won't harm the environment is like trying to convince a 5-year-old that there is no Santa Claus. The evidence may be clear, but he just won't believe it.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages ANWR, describes it as "one of the finest examples of wilderness left on the planet." The refuge is the same size as South Carolina, with most of its land accessible only by plane or boat.

Oil companies say exploration and drilling could be limited to a small area and would not harm the wildlife.

"It is a 2,000-acre limitation," Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said, referring to the amount of land within the refuge that would be opened for drilling. "If we can do anything more to help decrease our reliance on oil imports, we need to do it."

Another Republican, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, said oil production platforms already operate on Alaska's North Slope in an environmentally sensitive way. He said, "They look like little outhouses," and that the drilling equipment's prints of evidence will hardly be visible.

Alaska relies heavily on proceeds from oil production, a revenue stream that has been in steady decline as the vast Prudhoe Bay oil fields to the west of ANWR become less productive.

The benefit to consumers is unclear. The U.S. Department of Energy says production in the region could lower the price of oil by 30 cents to 50 cents a barrel — the equivalent of about 1 cent per gallon of gasoline at the pump.

Resources

Senate blocks Alaska oil drilling
BBC News, Dec, 21, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4549884.stm

Senate Blocks Military Bill Over Arctic Drilling
by Carl Hulse
New York Times, Dec. 21, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21cnd-congress.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=7b964733d1292685&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Senate Blocks Alaska Refuge Drilling
by H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press, Dec. 21, 2005
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/arctic_drilling;_ylt=AiYFIm3QW8_Pq0.gqOX9fsas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Law requires sharing of ANWR riches
by Ken Johns
Anchorage Daily News, Dec. 21, 2005
http://www.adn.com/opinion/guest_columns/story/7303426p-7215204c.html

ANWR: To Drill or Not to Drill? There is No Question
by Peyton Knight
The New Media Journal, Dec. 24, 2005
http://www.therant.us/guest/knight/12242005.htm

Alaska oil drilling myths
by Ben Lieberman, commentary
The Washington Times, Dec. 20, 2005
http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20051219-091756-3971r.htm

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Alaska: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
http://arctic.fws.gov/

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
http://www.anwr.org/

Almanac of Policy Issues
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/crs_anwr.shtml

Related

Oil Exploration and Drilling in Alaska, Part I
by Mark Devlin
Industrial Market Trends, Nov. 30, 2005
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2005/11/oil_exploration_2.html

Oil Exploration and Drilling in Alaska, Part II
by Mark Devlin
Industrial Market Trends, Dec. 1, 2005
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2005/12/oil_exploration.html