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[greenyes] ANWR reprised
Article from ENN follows:

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I haven't done the math in a while, but, if I recall correctly, the
estimated 10 billion barrells of ANWR oil would provide the US with only
a few months of supply based on our current rate of consumption.  If our
country had a sensible, long-range energy plan that would effecitively
reduce our dependence on foreign AND domestic fossil fuel sources, I
could possibly support limited drilling in ANWR.  But, given the current
administration's penchant for short term planning and immediate profits
for energy companies I am unmoved by the White House's repeated attempts
to open up this pristine wilderness area.

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White House won't back down on Arctic oil drilling 

Thursday, September 11, 2003
By Tom Doggett, Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration told Congress Wednesday it was
sticking with its plan for a broad energy bill to open an Arctic refuge
in Alaska to oil drilling, even though the White House has been warned
the proposal could kill the legislation. 
Senate and House negotiators are trying to hammer out legislation by
the end of this month that would be the first major overhaul in U.S.
energy policy in a decade.

House lawmakers want to give oil companies access to the potential 10
billion barrels of crude under the pristine Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR), while the Senate voted earlier this year to keep the
refuge closed to energy exploration.

In a letter to the joint Senate-House negotiating committee, the
administration urged lawmakers to adopt the House position that would
allow drilling in the smaller coastal plain of the 19 million acre ANWR.
It would also limit exploration activities within the coastal plain to
just 2,000 acres at any one time.

"Opening the ANWR is not only key to increasing domestic production and
reducing (U.S.) dependence on foreign oil but also to creating thousands
of new, well-paying jobs for American workers," U.S. Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham wrote to Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who chairs the
negotiating panel.

The White House said new drilling technology means oil firms can
explore the area without harming the environment.

Green groups, many Democrats, and even some moderate Republicans fear
opening ANWR would destroy the habitat of polar bears, caribou, and
other wildlife that live there.

Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster, or talk to death, any
final energy bill that gives oil companies access to the pristine
refuge. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday called the ANWR
drilling provision a "poison pill," which would derail the entire bill.

"The administration believes Congress should look at the facts, not the
rhetoric, concerning the nation's best on-shore prospect for oil, a
small part of the coastal plain of ANWR," Abraham said.

Domenici has warned it would be difficult for the president to get a
broad energy bill that includes ANWR drilling. "We're charged with
getting an (energy) bill, not charged with getting a bill with ANWR on
it," he said last week.

Abraham also said the package of energy tax incentives in the
legislation is too big, totaling $18.1 billion in the House bill and
about $15.5 billion in the Senate bill. He said negotiators should not
"significantly" exceed the $8 billion in energy tax incentives proposed
by the administration in its 2004 budget.

Separately, the administration said it supported providing federal
guarantees on repayment of 80 percent of the loans for building a
pipeline to ship natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states.

However, Abraham said the White House "strongly" opposed the Senate's
price-floor tax credit, which would kick in for the pipeline's operators
if the price of natural gas fell too low.

The administration fears the tax credit would distort markets in other
natural gas producing states and undermine support of the pipeline from
Canada, which will have to issue permits for part of the pipeline
crossing its territory.







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