ANWR has a chance

NYT reports Senate Votes to Allow Drilling in Arctic Reserve

The Senate endorsed oil-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today, giving President Bush and others who favor exploration of the Alaska wilderness a major victory.

The 51-to-49 vote was in favor of a budget resolution that assumes revenues of some $5 billion from drilling fees over the next decade, with the federal government and the state of Alaska to split the money.

While this afternoon's vote is not the final word on the issue, it nevertheless made drilling in the wilds of Alaska - an idea favored by the oil industry for decades and fiercely opposed by environmental groups - far more likely than before.

For drilling to take place, the Senate will later have to pass a measure explicitly authorizing the opening of the wildlife refuge to drilling, something that until now has been prohibited. Then the House of Representatives would have to explicitly authorize drilling as well.

Since the House has endorsed Arctic drilling several times over the years, this afternoon's vote in the Senate was seen by vote-watchers on both sides as perhaps pivotal. In the Senate, opponents of drilling have used the chamber's parliamentary devices - notably, the threat of a filibuster, a stalling tactic that requires 60 of the Senate's 100 votes to overcome - to frustrate supporters.

This afternoon's vote came on an amendment sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and several other Democrats. It would have removed language in the budget resolution for 2006 that assumes that drilling will take place.

CNN reports Bush has called tapping the reserve's oil a critical part of the nation's energy security and a way to reduce America's reliance on imported oil, which account for more than half of the 20 million barrels of crude use daily. The Alaska refuge could supply as much as 1 million barrels day at peak production, drilling supporters said..... Drilling proponents say that modern drilling technology can safeguard the refuge and still tap the likely -- though not yet certain -- 10.4 billion barrels of crude in the refuge.

Thanks to TheLeftCoaster for the vote count:

These are the Democrats who voted with for drilling:

Akaka-HI
Inouye-HI
Landrieu-LA

And these are the Republicans who voted against drilling:

Lincoln Chafee-RI
Norm Coleman-MN
Susan Collins-ME
Mike DeWine-OH
John McCain-AZ
Gordon Smith-OR
Olympia Snowe-ME

Jim Jeffords voted with the Democrats.

Guess what. The MainStreamMedia does not like it.

Some were just bitter, such as the San Jose Mercury News which said President Bush can just about mount the trophy he's been hunting. We suggest a caribou head over a White House fireplace to signify approval of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Others were so upset they decided to lie, even after the vote: Seattle Times said Drilling for oil along the remote coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge does not buy the United States a nickel's worth of energy security. This is a fight about symbolism and political trophies.

Some were both bitter, and decided to lie, like the Village Voice which said Bush Digs Dry Well in Alaska - Glut of right wingers, dearth of oil. Docile as always, members of the Senate yesterday narrowly voted to support President's Bush quack solution to the energy crisis, i.e. opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. In addition to wrecking the ecology, oil drilling in Alaska won't produce more than a puddle of crude toward reducing energy imports in the Lower 48.

DailyKos is a very extreme left blog, and on it lorax offers three ways they might still defeat Arctic Wildlife Refuge drilling

1. Focus on defeating the entire Senate budget. This is a distinct possibility, if we can cobble together a coalition of Arctic Wildlife Refuge drilling opponents and enough fiscally conservative Republicans to oppose this bloated, deficit-expanding budget. It is very common for budgets to go unapproved. Dems can offer to support the budget if Arctic Wildlife Refuge drilling is removed.
2. The House budget does not include a provision for Arctic drilling. This is somewhat of an anomaly, as the House has been much more enthusiastic in the past about drilling the Arctic Wildlife Refuge than has the Senate. The budgets will have to undergo a reconciliation process, and maybe we can use this as another bottleneck to protect our national treasure.
3. Worst-case scenario--the budget passes both houses with a provision to open the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for drilling. Then we take it to the corporations.... boycotting ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, the satan-spawn corporations behind this administration and drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.