WATCHING WASHINGTON HARDBALL IN THE SENATE

With Patrick Crow The Senate began battling over its sweeping energy policy bill last week before the measure even went to the floor. Ten senators pledged a filibuster against the Senate even considering the bill because it allows exploration on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain. Sixty senators would have to vote to choke off the filibuster. Sen. Joe Liebermann (D-Conn.) admitted the reason for the filibuster is "we believe there may be a majority (in the Senate) supporting

Oct. 28, 1991

3 min read

The Senate began battling over its sweeping energy policy bill last week before the measure even went to the floor.

Ten senators pledged a filibuster against the Senate even considering the bill because it allows exploration on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain. Sixty senators would have to vote to choke off the filibuster.

Sen. Joe Liebermann (D-Conn.) admitted the reason for the filibuster is "we believe there may be a majority (in the Senate) supporting drilling in the Alaskan wilderness."

ANWR DRILLING OPPOSITION

In a parallel move, 12 senators, including most of those threatening a filibuster, wrote Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Me.), urging him to postpone consideration of the bill until after a federal judge rules next year on the adequacy of the Interior Department's study supporting ANWR drilling.

And several of the same senators are on the environment committee, which voted 14-4 to declare the ANWR Coastal Plain a wilderness and thus off limits to exploration.

That bill simply declares 1,556,793 acres on the Coastal Plain, depicted in a June 1986 Interior Department map, to be part of the wilderness preservation system.

But Sen. Steve Symms (R-idaho) raised an embarrassing question: "Where is the map?" As it turned out, the committee staff didn't have a copy. Interior didn't either. It had never gotten around to drafting it.

The panel voted on the bill anyway. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) explained, "I think we all know what the map is."

He also said, "ANWR is an environmental time capsule that takes us back to a time before man discovered pollution."

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), not a member of the panel, sat in the front row, angrily glaring at the committee members. They tried to ignore him, a breach of senatorial courtesy, but finally invited him to speak.

Stevens exploded to the senators, "if you do this to my state I shall never forget that. I shall dedicate myself to turning your states into wilderness. Any senator who votes for the bill shall live to regret it."

In another development, a majority of 51 senators went on record opposing the provision in the energy bill independent gas producers want most.

Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colo.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), and Don Nickles (R-Okla.) had inserted a provision requiring the federal government to insure that different U.S. and Canadian regulations did not favor Canadian gas imports.

The Coalition for Diversified Gas Supplies, made up of 53 gas pipelines, distributors, and utilities, gathered the signatures for the record. It expects the 51 senators to vote for a floor amendment deleting the "antiimport provisions. "

The Independent Petroleum Association of America said it will work to preserve the provision.

CARTER'S ABOUT-FACE

Even former President Jimmy Carter was drawn into the escalating energy policy battle.

Carter and former President Gerald Ford cosigned a letter urging senators to pass a comprehensive energy bill, but Carter apparently didn't realize the bill would allow ANWR drilling.

He quickly sent senators a second letter saying he opposes any legislation that would "destroy the integrity of the wildlife range in order to obtain a relatively miniscule amount of oil."