The proposal to drill for oil in an Alaska wildlife refuge will create the most environmentally friendly oil field in the world, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday -- a claim disputed by drilling opponents.
The proposal to drill for oil in an Alaska wildlife refuge will create the most environmentally friendly oil field in the world, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday -- a claim disputed by drilling opponents.
They said the legislation before Congress could allow oil companies to skirt some existing environmental safeguards while weakening the ability to challenge oil leases in court.
The standoff in the Senate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska was expected to reach a climax Wednesday with a critical vote on whether the measure should be included in a massive defense spending bill.
The outcome could be determined by one or two votes.
Drilling opponents have argued for years that opening the refuge's 1.5 million-acre (610,000 hectares) coastal plain to oil companies would threaten caribou calving areas and adversely disturb a pristine area that is home to polar bears, musk oxen and, during certain times of the year, millions of migratory birds.
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Those who have sought access to what may be 10 billion barrels of crude oil maintain that a string of safeguards put into the legislation -- from limiting the "footprint" of development to requiring use of the most modern drilling technology -- would protect the wildlife.
"The requirements in the legislation would be very strict," Norton said in an interview Tuesday, calling the environmental standards for the refuge "more stringent than is applied in other oil and gas producing areas." She said the bill requires her to ensure leasing plans are "environmentally sound" with "no significant adverse impact" to wildlife or their habitat.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the bill "lets us address the environmental issues" and provides safeguards by requiring advanced technology. "We're not talking about opening the entire 1.5 million acres. ... We're asking for permission to explore and drill in an area not to exceed 2,000 acres," Murkowski said on the Senate floor.
But environmentalists called the 2,000-acre (800 hectare) limit "a sham" that does not reflect the fact that the bill would allow drilling activities in all but 45,000 acres (18,211 hectares) of the coastal plain, crating a "spiderweb" of development.
The legislation would require Norton to offer oil leases covering at least 200,000 acres (80, 938 hectares) within 22 months and a second lease package in 2010. The 2,000 acre (800 hectares) the footprint limit applies, according to the bill, only to support facilities, airstrips, areas covered by gravel berms and the pipeline support piers where they actually touch the ground.
Source: Associated Press
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