A fight will soon reach the Senate floor on whether to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a 1.5 million-acre pristine coastal plain that is home to caribou and many other animals. Opponents of opening up ANWR to drilling failed yesterday to kill a provision in a 2001 budget bill that calls for $1.2 billion in revenues from an ANWR oil lease sale projected to occur in 2005. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, built the expected oil revenues from ANWR into the budget, while Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) led the fight against the provision. Enviros are hopeful that the language will be killed on the Senate floor next week. Many Western Republicans are using the excuse of rising oil prices to push for drilling in ANWR.
