By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 1�A congressional coalition filed legislation Wednesday to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska from oil exploration.
Earlier in the week, Sen. Frank Murkowsk (R-Alas.) and others proposed legislation that would permit leasing of the region (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2001).
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) proposed to add the ANWR coastal plain to the Wilderness Preservation System. The bill has 120 Republican and Democratic cosponsors in the House of Representatives.
Markey said, �The oil industry has placed a bull�s eye on the heart of the refuge and says hold still. This won�t hurt. It will only affect a small surface area of your vital organs. We should not drill for oil and gas in the arctic refuge. We should preserve it, instead, as the magnificent wilderness it has always been, and must always be.�
Johnson said, �Drilling in ANWR is not the answer. There are far better alternatives that will help us decrease our dependency on foreign oil and address our energy needs in the long run. For example, increasing the fuel economy of cars by just 3 miles/gal saves the same amount of oil over the next 10 years as what we�d expect to extract from the refuge.�
Lieberman agreed, saying, �It is clear that we can never hope to drill our way out of our energy needs. This bill will eliminate this distraction from the energy debate and allow us to focus on real solutions. We must aggressively search for alternative, renewable, and cleaner sources of energy.�
American Petroleum Institute spokesman Juan Palomo, Washington, told OGJ Online that today�s technology for finding and producing oil and gas greatly reduces the surface disturbance in delicate areas.
�ANWR�s coastal plain is one of the numerous areas we believe should be open for exploration of production to meet the country�s increasing demand for energy. The federal government estimates are that there is enough oil in ANWR�s coastal plain to replace what we import from Saudi Arabia for the next 20 to 25 years,� Palomo said.
In 1980, Congress set aside the 1.5 million acre coastal plain for possible exploration.
