N.H. House Members Opposes Arctic Drilling
WASHINGTON, March 17-New Hampshire’s two House members oppose a Senate budget provision that would permit oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in search of crude oil believed to be located there, they said Thursday in separate interviews.
That puts Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley in conflict with their fellow New Hampshire Republicans in the Senate. Sen. Judd Gregg, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Sen. John Sununu voted Wednesday in favor of drilling, a position President Bush also supports .
“I am pleased that the budget on the House side, that we’re about to approve, does not have the same provision that permits it,” Bass said. “I am hopeful that when the bill comes from back from conference it will not include that language.”
While the House has supported this provision in the past, ANWR drilling was not included in the House version of the 2006 budget resolution, which could cause problems in the reconciliation process.
In recent years, differences between the House and Senate budget resolutions prevented Congress from enacting a final budget. The two chambers disagree on several key spending issues, including Medicaid cuts, which were removed from the Senate bill on Thursday.
“I don’t think it does enough to solve the issue of the supply,” Bass said of ANWR drilling. “I don’t think it’s appropriate, on the basis of a possibility of there being oil and gas resources there, to desecrate this wilderness.”
Bradley, who sits on the House Budget Committee, agreed, saying, “I have said all along that we ought to be producing more energy in this country.and we need to do it in a way that protects our environment.
“I think that ANWR would not see oil for about 10 years,” he continued. “I think that it would be an area that if we can preserve it from drilling we should.”
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