By Maureen Lorenzetti
OGJ Online
WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 22�US lawmakers who endorse the oil industry�s urging that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened to drilling are seeking to reshape the debate thorough a less confrontational style.
Late Wednesday, the House Committee on Budget�recognizing strong opposition in Congress to ANWR exploration�approved a fiscal 2002 spending blueprint for the federal government that did not include bonuses from a potential ANWR lease sale. Previously, budget outlines had allotted $1.2 billion the government expected from such a sale.
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the budget committee in that house, has said he would not put expected ANWR revenues in the Senate budget bill if any Republican on his committee objected.
However, opponents to ANWR drilling expect the issue will be revived later.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said, �We will still have that fight. We don�t take much solace that it�s not in the budget. It will come back.�
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) is expected to provide that opposition.
Off Capitol Hill, the pro-drilling group Arctic Power unveiled a partnership with labor and farm groups that supports drilling as a way to modulate energy prices. Called the Energy Stewardship Alliance, the coalition plans a $2 million advertising campaign that will emphasize the economic benefits of opening the ANWR coastal plain in northeastern Alaska to exploration.
The group includes oil firms, trade organizations, labor unions, and the US Chamber of Commerce.
The coalition will seek to build grassroots support and will stress that the US needs oil production and it is more environmentally responsible to produce it from ANWR�where it would be regulated tightly�than from less regulated oil fields in other parts of the world.
Arctic Power is partly funded by the state of Alaska. Absent from the Alliance are BP and ExxonMobil Corp., which have a large presence in the state. An Arctic Power spokesman said those companies have "expressed support" for the alliance.