Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 26/02) - A world away from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, lawmakers were voting on whether or not to allow drilling on the reserve.

Last Thursday, a vote to open the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge was defeated in the United States Senate in Washington.

By a vote of 54-46, the cornerstone of President George Bush's Energy Securities Act was crushed by the Democrat-controlled house.

Three senators, Tom Daschle (South Dakota), John Kerry (Massachusetts) and Joe Lieberman (Connecticut) engineered the attack on the amendment that would have allowed ANWR to be opened for drilling.

Last October, Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle forced the ANWR amendment to garner 60 votes in favour of drilling before being added to the bill.

In a press conference following the vote, main advocate for the energy plan, Republican Senator Frank Murkowski (Alaska), said while the amendment was defeated, his efforts to open ANWR "will continue unabated."

"It's disappointing, but I think we proved today that we need more Republicans in the U.S. Senate," Murkowski said.

He says the ANWR oil is needed and points to the fact that the US currently imports 59 per cent of its oil and that figure is expected to rise to 67 per cent in 10 years.

Five Democrats agreed with Murkowski and voted in favour of the amendment, while eight Republicans voted against their party to protect the reserve.

Matthew Lien of the Caribou Commons project says the battle was won, but the war is far from over.

"The Democrats have control of the Senate by one vote," Lien said. "It's too close for comfort and if an election swings representation to the Republican side, then we could have a real problem -- bigger than we do already."