ANWR Drilling Likely in Senate Budget -Panel Head
ANWR Drilling Likely in Senate Budget -Panel Head
Mar 1, 6:33 PM (ET)
By Chris Baltimore
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican legislative push to open Alaska's environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling could find its way into the Senate budget, the chamber's top budget writer said on Tuesday.
Environmentalists oppose drilling in ANWR, claiming exploration activities would destroy the habitat of the area's polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.
Sen. Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who chairs the Budget Committee, said there is a "reasonable chance" that language to open ANWR will be in the budget.
"It was in the president's budget and we're trying to do what the president asked for," Gregg told reporters after meeting with panel Republicans.
Giving oil companies access to ANWR's potential 16 billion barrels of crude is a key part of the Bush administration's energy plan to reduce U.S. oil imports, but the Senate has rejected multiple attempts to open it.
Details could be worked out by March 9, when the panel is expected to begin its formal budget session, Gregg said.
The full Senate could debate the budget during the week of March 14, before a two-week recess beginning March 21, said Senate Republican leader Bill Frist.
The White House says it supports attaching ANWR drilling language to the budget.
The administration is so confident ANWR will finally be opened that it included in its 2006 budget request to Congress $2.4 billion in fees it expects the Interior Department to collect from leasing tracts in the refuge for oil drilling.
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Energy Secretary Sam Bodman depart this week with a congressional delegation to ANWR led by the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, New Mexico's Pete Domenici, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The trip comes as U.S. oil prices hover above $50 a barrel and the United States is more dependent than ever on foreign oil imports to meet its energy needs. (Additional reporting by Anna Willard)
http://reuters.iwon.com/article/20050301/2005-03-01T233323Z_01_N01397797_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-CONGRESS-ANWR-DC.html
Mar 1, 6:33 PM (ET)
By Chris Baltimore
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican legislative push to open Alaska's environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling could find its way into the Senate budget, the chamber's top budget writer said on Tuesday.
Environmentalists oppose drilling in ANWR, claiming exploration activities would destroy the habitat of the area's polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.
Sen. Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who chairs the Budget Committee, said there is a "reasonable chance" that language to open ANWR will be in the budget.
"It was in the president's budget and we're trying to do what the president asked for," Gregg told reporters after meeting with panel Republicans.
Giving oil companies access to ANWR's potential 16 billion barrels of crude is a key part of the Bush administration's energy plan to reduce U.S. oil imports, but the Senate has rejected multiple attempts to open it.
Details could be worked out by March 9, when the panel is expected to begin its formal budget session, Gregg said.
The full Senate could debate the budget during the week of March 14, before a two-week recess beginning March 21, said Senate Republican leader Bill Frist.
The White House says it supports attaching ANWR drilling language to the budget.
The administration is so confident ANWR will finally be opened that it included in its 2006 budget request to Congress $2.4 billion in fees it expects the Interior Department to collect from leasing tracts in the refuge for oil drilling.
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Energy Secretary Sam Bodman depart this week with a congressional delegation to ANWR led by the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, New Mexico's Pete Domenici, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The trip comes as U.S. oil prices hover above $50 a barrel and the United States is more dependent than ever on foreign oil imports to meet its energy needs. (Additional reporting by Anna Willard)
http://reuters.iwon.com/article/20050301/2005-03-01T233323Z_01_N01397797_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-CONGRESS-ANWR-DC.html
posted by JimG at 10:46 AM
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