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Posted October 7, 1995
BACKGROUND: This bill would open the coastal plain area of Alaska's North Slope, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to oil and gas drilling. The 19 million acre refuge is the country's largest, and is home to hundreds of thousands of caribou, polar bears, snow geese and other animals. Republicans estimate the measure, which would affect about 1.5 million acres of land, could bring the federal government $1.3 billion in revenue.
STATUS: S395 has passed both the House Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. A House and Senate conference is in progress to determine the form of the bill (S395) that will return to each chamber for a final vote.
KEY PLAYERS: Rep. Don Young (D-AK) chairs the House Resouces Committee. Sen. Frank Murkowski (D-AK) (whom his press secretary calls "the North Pole") is chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both, including Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), a senior Appropriations Committee member, are major proponents of the legislation. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, has been a chief opponent of the bill.
PRO: The area made available for drilling is but a tiny fraction of the Arctic tundra, and would bring needed millions into the federal coffer. This is certainly preferable to continued dependence on foreign oil -- so great that it forced the United States to go to war in the Persian Gulf. The less America depends on oil from unpredictable locales like the Gulf, the less vulnerable the country is to the whims of would-be Saddam Husseins worldwide.
"This nation faces a growing dependency on foreign oil. More than 50 percent comes from overseas, much from the volatile Middle East. That's not good for our security or the economy ... Some will say that no amount of oil is enough to allow exploration in Alaska. But if you ask those people where we should get our oil, they have no answer." -- Sen. Fran Murkowski (R-AK)
CON: This legislation is almost a caricature of typical Republican politics: business and profits favored at the expense of the environment. Yes, oil addiction is a problem. But the solution is decreased oil consumption, not more drilling. It's senseless for the government to spoil natural sanctuaries when consumption-cutting measures such as energy taxes or funding for alternative energy research are not first prioritized.
"Opening the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling is the equivalent of offering Yellowstone National Park for geothermal drilling, or calling for bids to construct hydropower dams in the Grand Canyon. We can surely find a better way to both produce energy and conserve our natural heritage." -- Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt
WHAT'S NEXT: Each chamber will vote on the bill that emerges from the House-Senate conference. A final bill, which will likely be included in a giant budget reconciliation bill, would then go to the President, who has threatened to veto a bill that includes the drilling provision.
INSIDE SCOOP: The Alaskans who chair Congress' environmental committees, Young and Murkowski, are notoriously hostile to environmental interests. Young is infamous for his vituperative contempt toward liberal activists, and for occupying an office decorated with the mounted heads of wild animals.