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Senate Budget Writers Include ANWR in Resolution, But Not House Budget Panel

The Senate Budget Commission on Wednesday made accommodations for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in its fiscal 2006 budget resolution, but the House budget panel spurned President Bush's request to use the budget process to open up ANWR's coastal plain to oil and natural gas drilling.

As part of his mark on the budget resolution, Senate Budget Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) assumed that ANWR will bring in $2.5 billion in receipts over five years to federal coffers, according to committee member Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM). Gregg also identified $2 billion for mandatory spending in the broad energy bill and $4.5 billion for energy taxes, he said.

"I think these numbers are tough, but doable. I will work to craft a bipartisan bill in committee that stays within those spending guidelines," said Domenici, who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over an omnibus energy bill.

"I will join Chairman Gregg and other senators concerned about rising energy prices to keep ANWR instructions in the resolution, both in committee and on the Senate floor next week. I will vigorously oppose any motion to strike," he noted.

"There are some who say that even though it [ANWR] raises revenue, it shouldn't be in a budget resolution. It should be free-standing," Domenici told the Senate budget panel Wednesday. And "those who oppose it would like the benefit of a filibuster," which would require proponents of ANWR to obtain 60 votes in order to proceed. But he said the Senate should "do it the old-fashioned way. If you want to win, you [must] get 51 votes. If you don't want it [ANWR], you [need to] get 51 votes."

Domenici believes this is the year for ANWR, saying, "We must develop ANWR. The time is now. The United States can't remain at the mercy of OPEC and a growing global appetite. We must do more to solve our own energy problems and meet our own needs."

In the House, Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) said his chairman's mark of the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution did not make allowances for exploration in ANWR.

Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, the lead Democratic sponsor of a bill to keep ANWR closed to producers (HR 567), gave high marks to the committee for not trying to force the issue through a "budgetary back door maneuver." Markey earlier this year was joined by 107 Democrats in urging the House budget panel to keep ANWR out of the budget (see Daily GPI, Jan. 28).

But this doesn't mean the end of ANWR in the House. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the House Resources Committee, supports exploration of the coastal plain of ANWR, and is expected to include it in his chairman's mark of the comprehensive energy bill.

In Columbus, OH, Wednesday, President Bush renewed his call for Congress to pass a comprehensive energy measure that would include ANWR as a critical part.

"To produce more energy at home, we need to open up new areas to environmentally responsible exploration for oil and natural gas, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...The Department of Interior estimates that we could recover more than 10 billion barrels of oil from a small corner of ANWR that was reserved specifically for energy development. That's the same amount...we could get from 41 states combined," he said.

"Congress needs to look at the science and look at the facts and send me a bill that includes exploration in ANWR for the sake of our country," the president told a crowd.

Bush also expressed concern about the U.S.'s growing dependence on foreign natural gas. "We're becoming more reliant upon natural gas, and a lot of it is coming from outside our borders. I believe that creates a national security issue and an economic security issue for the United States. And that's why it's important for us to utilize the resources we have here at home in environmentally friendly ways."

The final objective of a sound energy policy is to find more reliable ways to deliver energy to consumers, Bush said. "Transmission lines and pipelines and generating facilities are deteriorating...These strains on the system lead to higher prices and they lead to bottlenecks in delivery."

Quoted from the Intelligence Press