Anchorage Daily News

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Don Young joined his Alaska Senate colleagues, calling on Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

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Rep. Don YOung

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Young introduced a drilling bill as part of a House Republican energy strategy unveiled Wednesday. The GOP proposal, which focuses on domestic energy production, was billed as a solution to keeping prices at the pump from escalating even further.

"It will be up to $6 a gallon by the end of July because this Congress hasn't acted," Young said during a meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee.

"The Congress is irresponsible when it comes to supply."

Democrats called the House GOP plan "the same failed policies and stale rhetoric instead of working with Democrats to bring real solutions to American families."

Young's spokesman, Steve Hansen, downplayed Democratic criticism of their ANWR-based plan. Higher fuel prices may spur some members of Congress to reconsider, Hansen said. He pointed out that the co-sponsor of Young's bill is Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md. Until now, Bartlett has opposed drilling in ANWR, Hansen said.

"At this time, the public awareness for increased domestic energy production is probably at the highest it's been since the early 1970s," Hansen said. "While there has been very strong Democratic opposition in the past and probably still is, there has been a shift on the energy issues."

Last week, Young's Republican Senate counterparts from Alaska tried a similar push on ANWR. They were the star participants in a Senate GOP energy panel.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski led the event, which focused on ANWR and featured fellow Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens as an expert panelist.

The Senate GOP proposal, which included opening up ANWR, failed last week when Republican senators tried to attach their energy plan to flood insurance legislation.

The Senate did overwhelmingly pass a bipartisan provision to temporarily stop acquiring crude oil for the strategic petroleum reserves.

The president signed that bill into law Monday; it's expected to increase domestic supply and, in theory, lower gas prices at the pump.

Find Erika Bolstad online at adn.com/contact/ebolstad or call her in Washington, D.C., at 202-383-6104.

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