House votes for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge

[G_j]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-20-energy-bill_x.htm

Posted 4/20/2005 10:16 PM

House votes for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted late Wednesday to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge as part of a broad energy bill that Democrats said would funnel billions of dollars to highly profitable energy companies while doing little to promote conservation or ease gasoline prices.
The bill's sponsors said oil from Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as much as a million barrels a day, will be needed to help curtail the country's growing dependence on oil imports. Opponents argued the oil wouldn't be available for a decade and even then at levels that would not significantly affect oil prices or imports.

The bill calls for $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, most of it going to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries.

Development of the Alaska refuge has been a contentious issue for nearly a decade. Environmentalists fear a spider web of drilling platforms and pipelines would harm the area's polar bears, caribou, migrating birds and other wildlife.

Senate Democrats have pledged to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge to oil companies. An amendment to strip the Alaska refuge provision from the energy bill failed Wednesday night 231-200.

..more..

[quaoar]

1. 30 democrats voted with the Republicans on this

Simply disgraceful.

[liveoaktx]

4. Roll Call on amendment

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050421/ap_on_go_co/house_rollcall_alaska_refuge

[TygrBright]

11. Thanks for the link...

...I am THRILLED that Maryland's Congressional delegation was solid on this one, including our Republicans.

I'm not surprised about MY Rep., Gilchrest, because he is one of that vanishing breed, the environmentalist Republican. But it's nice to see Bartlett on the right side for a change, too.

approvingly,
Bright

P.S. On the other hand, what the HELL does Minnesota's Colin Peterson think he's up to? Is he taking Exxon payola? Paging the Red River Valley, Willmar, Moorhead, et. al.... GET ON HIS ASS, PEOPLE!

[G_j]

2. btw: Change to the Clean Air Act Is Built Into New Energy Bill

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/16/politics/16enviro.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=

April 16, 2005
Change to the Clean Air Act Is Built Into New Energy Bill
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

Correction Appended

WASHINGTON, April 15 - Deep in the energy bill that was approved by a House committee this week, under a section titled "Miscellaneous," is a brief provision that could have major consequences for communities struggling to clean up their dirty air.

If it becomes law, it would make one of the most significant changes to the Clean Air Act in 15 years, allowing communities whose air pollution comes from hundreds of miles away to delay meeting national air quality standards until their offending neighbors clean up their own air.

The provision could especially affect states like New York, which has some of the nation's dirtiest air, and other Northeastern states that have always had difficulty meeting federal standards for ozone, a leading cause of smog, because much of any state's pollution originates in states to the south and west.

Under the new provision, the "downwind" states would not be required to meet clean air standards until the "upwind" states that were contributing to the problem had done so. Currently, states can get more time but only if they agree to added cleanup measures.

..more..

[HeeBGBz]

3. Didn't this happen already?

Several weeks ago?

[G_j]

5. actually

the House rejected an amendment to strip the provision allowing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the energy bill.

[Erika]

6. Depleting a legacy for our children

to fund todays world corporatists. The Alaskan North Slope is already having 7% of its oil sold to Asia. Enough that it equals our national reserve supply. Dwight Eisenhower who chose to protect this area for all time from commercial development must be rolling over in his grave at what the corporate globalists who have taken over the U.S. government has done to this area and the stripping of our legacy to our children.

[flaminbats]

14. Eisenhower also wanted this oil supply preserved for national security..

But why not rely on our enemies to power our defense in a crises? By giving their campaign contributors taxpayer-owned oil to sell back to us, how low can Republicans get?

Not only are they selling off our national security, but profiting from their treason.

[Zorra]

7. Crews work on gas and oil spill in Alaska

Liquids released as spray at BP-run site
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- About 1.4 million cubic feet of natural gas and an unknown quantity of crude oil spilled yesterday at a Prudhoe Bay drilling site operated by BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., state environmental regulators said.

Crews were cleaning up the spill, which was released as a spray at Drill Site 14. The mist was released in 15- mph winds, BP spokesman Andrew Van Chau said.

According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the affected area measured nearly a mile by 300 feet.

Most of the spray landed on surrounding structures and a gravel pad, much of which was covered in deep snow, according to Van Chau. Most of the remaining area was lightly misted.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/219917_bpspill13.html

Don't worry, it's all environmentally safe and sound, there will be no spills or danger to the ANWAR.
:sarcasm:

[Erika]

9. I also saw Valdez

Beautiful beyond belief until the oil spills. I don't imagine most can visualize the rookeries between Valdez and Port Whittier and how very delicate they are. For those who say modern day drilling and commercial industry won't cause environmental damage, I say "fools". It's happenning right now.

[kysrsoze]

8. Sick, selfish fucks - say goodbye to the polar bears while you're there

This is just disgusting.

[G_j]

10. get ready folks, this energy bill MUST not pass!

notice that it also guts the clean air act.

[MisterP]

12. we have just sold our mother's silverware for a new heroin fix

[G_j]

16. now selling mother also....n/t

[d_b]

13. Oh boy oh boy.

[bling bling]

15. Yeah, well, Earth is totally over-rated anyway.

Nature's cute and all...and I'm sure it's even got some useful purpose of some sort, but it's such an inconvenience for those of us in the "real" world.





(sigh) :cry:

[nodehopper]

17. yeah, the Earth is beautiful but dumb!

To hell with it.

[seemslikeadream]

18. Opening ANWR to Development Could Lead to 'Exxon Valdez' Type of Disaster

Opening ANWR to Dev. Could Lead To Disaster
Thursday, 21 April 2005, 1:01 pm
Opinion: Jason Leopold

Opening ANWR to Development Could Lead to 'Exxon Valdez' Type of Disaster, Activist Claims

By Jason LeopoldIt's true that thousands of caribou and other types of wildlife will be displaced if Washington D.C. lawmakers pass a measure to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But there's an even bigger issue floating under the radar: the very real possibility of an environmental tragedy that could be as catastrophic as the 1989 oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez oil tanker if swift measures aren't taken to address severe safety and maintenance issues plaguing drilling operations in nearby Prudhoe Bay-North America's biggest oil field, 60 miles west of ANWR-and other areas on Alaska's North Slope.

That's just one of many alarming claims that employees working for BP, the parent of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., the Anchorage company that runs the 24-year-old Prudhoe Bay on behalf of Phillips Alaska Inc., Exxon Mobil and other oil companies, have made over the years as a way of drawing attention to the dozens of oil spills-three of which occurred between March and April alone-that could boil over and happen at ANWR if BP continues to neglect safety issues and the area is opened up to further oil and gas exploration.

Now, as President Bush renews his calls for opening up ANWR to development, some of those very same BP employees are blowing the whistle on their company yet again and are turning to the one person who helped them expose oil companies' cover ups on Alaska's North Slope.

Chuck Hamel, an Alexandria, Va., oil industry watchdog has been leading the fight for the past 15 years against corporations' BP, Conoco Phillips and ExxonMobil shoddy crude oil operations in Alaska. The safety and maintenance issues that Hamel and the BP whistleblowers brought to the attention of Congress and the public four years ago were supposed to be addressed by the oil company. Back in the 1980s, Hamel was the first person to expose weak pollution laws at the Valdez tanker port and electrical and maintenance problems with the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
more
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0504/S00206.htm