Battle lines form again over Alaska oil drilling

March 15, 2000
Web posted at: 11:20 p.m. EST (0420 GMT)

In this story: Environmentalists say drilling would destroy diversity Clinton has vetoed legislation before RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Rusty Dornin

(CNN) -- When the cost of gasoline hits $2 per gallon in the United States, there are those who say the country need only turn to the tundra for relief.

The tundra in question is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known by its acronym, ANWR. It is 1.5 million acres closed to oil exploration, unless Congress decides otherwise.

But the oil industry and some congressmen would like to open the region for drilling.

"We can open up ANWR safely," says U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has introduced legislation to let the oil industry drill on the coast in northern Alaska.

But many people -- including President Clinton -- say that drilling is not the best option.

Environmentalists call ANWR the biological heart of Alaska, and compare it to the Serengeti Plains of Africa for its diversity of wildlife.

If Congress allows drilling, "we're going to sacrifice something that we should be passing onto our grandchildren as a national heritage, in order to have a quick fix of oil for six months," says Bruce Hamilton of the Sierra Club. "If you really want additional oil, there are better ways to do it through conservation."

But when gasoline prices climb -- as they have been steadily in recent months -- the oil industry calls for opening the refuge for drilling.

"It's been estimated ... that we could replace the same amount of oil that we are importing through Saudi Arabia for the next 30 years," says Mark Rubin of the American Petroleum Institute.

Murkowski has long argued that drilling could be conducted on the coastal plain of the ANWR without harming wildlife or the area's ecology. His bill was introduced with 31 Senate sponsors, but its chances of becoming law this year are slim.

President Clinton previously has vetoed legislation to drill for oil in the refuge. When the legislation was introduced, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said he strongly opposed oil development in the refuge and warned that Clinton again would veto such legislation.

As the oil industry dreams of vast pools of crude oil beneath the arctic tundra, environmentalists say their goal is to get Clinton to go one step further and declare the ANWR a national monument, which they say is the only way to preserve the refuge.

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
American Petroleum Institute
Sierra Club
U.S. Department of the Interior

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