Congress Moves Closer to Permit Oil Drilling in Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge

Opponents gear up to oppose plan Interview with Annie Strickler, a spokesperson for the Sierra Club, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, came one step closer to approval last week. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved opening part of the 1.5 million-acre refuge to drilling in order to raise $2.4 billion over five years. The argument in favor of the bill was based in part on the idea that revenue generated would help pay for reconstruction costs in the hurricane battered Gulf Coast. While neither supporters nor opponents of drilling are claiming that passing legislation this year will do anything in the short term to reduce high gasoline prices, supporters do say that once the oil from ANWR is flowing, it should help ease the tight supply of oil and eventually reduce prices. But critics note that no oil would flow for at least ten years after passage of the proposed legislation.

An amendment sponsored by Democrats that would have prohibited the export of oil from ANWR was defeated, ensuring that if the bill is passed in its present form, some of the oil will be sold outside the U.S. The main rationale for drilling in ANWR put forward by proponents is that the project would reduce dependence on foreign oil. But one Democratic senator maintains that over the next 20 years, such dependence would be reduced only slightly, from 68 percent to 64 percent.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Annie Strickler, spokesperson for the Sierra Club about what's at stake in this fight, and what opponents of drilling in ANWR are doing to defeat the measure.

For more information about the fight to save ANWR, call the Sierra Club at (202) 547-1141 or visit www.arcticrefugeaction.org, the website of a coalition of conservation, labor, and religious groups who are working to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Related links:

Sierra Club at www.sierraclub.org

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