the Sugar Conspiracy

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Senate votes to drill in ANWR

Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush.

The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster - a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies.

The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said. The House has not included a similar provision in its budget, so the issue is still subject to negotiations later this year to resolve the difference.

The claim is that drilling in ANWR will take some of the pressure off US reliance on foreign oil. But the reality is that the companies that so desperately want to suck the resources from Alaska won't even make the committment to sell those products to US consumers. In fact, they'd much rather sell it to Asia where they can get better prices and continue to hit up the West Coast with high gasoline prices. So all the talk about protecting US interests is just bullshit. If the US wants to lessen their reliance on foreign oil, they should invest in renewable resources and not suck Alaska dry.

UPDATE: A poster over at DailyKos says that BP and ConocoPhillips have both renounced their claims to drill in ANWR, while ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco are practically foaming at the mouth to get in there. The poster kindly provides the corporate phone numbers for the four companies, so you can thank BP and ConocoPhillips and pledge to buy only their gasoline and tell ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco that you're boycotting them. This kinda stuff WORKS if enough people participate, so spread the word.

posted by chris at 4:42 PM
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