WASHINGTON -- Supporters of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development won a major battle today when the U.S. Senate narrowly defeated an effort to strip a drilling provision from the 2006 budget.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens said he was overjoyed by his long-sought victory, but cautioned supporters that many more steps lay ahead before a bill reached President Bush for his signature.
Opponents vowed to continue the fight at every opportunity, with the first expected as early as Friday when the entire budget resolution comes before the Senate.
The 51-49 vote played out along expected lines, with three Democrats joining the largely Republican majority for opening the refuge and seven conservation-oriented Republicans joining the mostly Democratic opposition.
Blocking drilling in the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the refuge is one of the biggest issues for the environmental community, with virtually every national organization active in the coalition. They said the sensitive arctic region, a rich ecosystem for caribou, polar bears, waterfowl and other animals, shouldn’t be trammeled for a reserve of oil that at best would have only a tiny effect on the nation’s domestic supply.
Their opposition said that the refuge held the best chance in America for a huge oil find at a time when world supplies were tightening.
While the debate took place as oil was reaching record highs and pump prices soaring, the single most important change since 2003, when a similar effort was defeated 52-48, was the November election. Nine senators were replaced with the net effect of three more votes in favor of drilling.
After the vote, when reporters asked him what made the difference, Stevens said, “It’s called an election. We won the election. We promised we’d do this when we won the election.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the sponsor of the amendment, refused to concede defeat.
“The fight over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is far from over,” Cantwell in a prepared statement. “This will be a short-lived vote for those who want to drill in the wildlife refuge.”
Even if the Senate passes the budget Friday - something it’s been unable to do in two of the last three years - the Energy & Natural Resources Committee would have to pass a bill to implement the budget resolution. If it got through that committee, it would have be approved again by the Senate and by House.
Cantwell, a member of the Senate energy committee, said she would take the fight there, though she would be operating for a severe disadvantage. Not only are Democrats outnumbered in that committee 12-10, but two of the Democrats there were among the three who jumped party lines Tuesday, Sens. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
