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ARCTIC IN THE ENERGY BILL
On April 20, 2005, Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Nancy Johnson
(R-CT) offered an amendment to H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to
strike a provision authorizing oil drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. This critical amendment was defeated by a vote of
231-200. Defenders of Wildlife knows that the battle to protect the
Arctic Refuge is an uphill fight, and so while we were disappointed to
lose this round, we were heartened to see such a strong, bipartisan
coalition of Members of Congress vote in support of this amendment.
A final energy bill with Arctic drilling language is very unlikely to
pass in the United States Senate. A nearly identical energy bill was
offered - and filibustered - in years past, and champions of the Arctic
Refuge are already vowing to take similar action if the final Senate
bill contains language to drill. The message is clear: when Senators
have the opportunity to fairly debate drilling in the Arctic Refuge,
they reject it. And they will do that again this year with the Energy
bill. So this defeat on the House side does not signal the ultimate
defeat of our efforts to protect the Refuge.
However, pro-drilling advocates are as aware of this dynamic as we are,
which is why they have simultaneously attempted to pass drilling
language through another piece of legislation: they snuck drilling
language onto this year's budget bill, which is immune to debate. They
know that drilling won't ultimately succeed so long as it is subjected
to fair debate, and so they have used a backdoor attempt to attach it to
the only bill that is immune to such open consideration.
And that is why the wide show of support for the Arctic on the
Markey-Johnson amendment to the Energy bill was so critical. Now, as
Budget negotiators work to develop a joint House-Senate budget bill,
they will have to consider that 200 Members of Congress stood in
opposition to drilling when they were asked to vote on it in the Energy
bill. That sends a strong message to budget negotiators that adding
such a controversial measure to an already controversial budget would
surely complicate its chances of passage.
Thank you for your continued support - with your help, Defenders of
Wildlife will fight to protect the Refuge at every turn!
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