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| \r\n \r\n October 14, 2001<\/strong> \r\n \r\n <\/p>\r\n \r\n Maneuvering Continues on Plan to Drill for Oil in Arctic Refuge\r\n \r\n <\/p>\r\n \r\n By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE\r\n \r\n <\/p>\r\n \r\n \r\nASHINGTON, Oct. 13 — Lawmakers continued to maneuver at week's end over the\r\nBush administration's plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife\r\nRefuge.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, offered on Friday to\r\nallow a vote on the matter on the Senate floor. Aides said Mr. Daschle, who\r\nopposes drilling, was willing to allow the vote because he was confident\r\nthat Republicans did not have the 60 votes needed to break an expected Democratic\r\nfilibuster.<\/p>\r\n \r\n But Republicans, backed by the White House, are pressing for a\r\nstraight majority vote, which Republican vote counters on Capitol Hill say\r\nthey believe they would win.<\/p>\r\n \r\n The International Brotherhood of Teamsters strongly backs the drilling\r\nmeasure, and pro-drilling forces hope that organized labor can win over some\r\nDemocrats who will be under pressure from environmentalists to vote against\r\nit. The Teamsters were successful in helping to push the measure through\r\nthe House.<\/p>\r\n \r\n As an alternative, Mr. Daschle said he would support construction\r\nof a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, a project that could\r\nproduce 400,000 jobs. Trillions of cubic feet of gas are being extracted\r\nnow, along with oil, but the gas is being reinserted into the ground because\r\nthere is no pipeline to transport it.<\/p>\r\n \r\n \"If we need to tap into the resources of Alaska, let's do it with\r\nthis pipeline,\" Mr. Daschle said.<\/p>\r\n \r\n In exchange for a vote on the pipeline, he said, \"I'm even willing\r\nto give them a vote on, or in relation to, the whole question of drilling\r\nin this most sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.\"<\/p>\r\n \r\n The whole energy bill is in flux, but Democrats indicated that\r\nit could be brought to the floor before Congress adjourns in a few weeks.\r\n <\/p>\r\n \r\n Republicans like the idea of the gas pipeline but say it is no\r\nsubstitute for increasing the nation's supply of oil.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton said in an interview on Friday\r\nthat both projects were desirable. <\/p>\r\n \r\n \"We are already working on it,\" Ms. Norton said of the gas pipeline.\r\n <\/p>\r\n \r\n She added: \"We've been talking to those who would build the pipeline.\r\nWe don't need legislation to carry forward with the early stages.\"<\/p>\r\n \r\n Environmentalists have complained that oil drilling in the Alaskan\r\nrefuge would not yield any oil for at least seven years, and would then yield\r\nenough for only 140 days. Echoing President Bush's comments on Thursday that\r\nthe less dependent the nation was on foreign oil, the more secure it was,\r\nMs. Norton said that every bit helped, especially with the nation fighting\r\nterrorism. <\/p>\r\n \r\n \"If we knew we didn't have to rely on any other country for our\r\noil for the next six months, that's something that would be quite valuable\r\nto us,\" Ms. Norton said. \"In today's climate, we need to look at those things\r\nthat will provide us an extra margin of security.\"<\/p>\r\n \r\n The oil would not be used up all at once, she said, but could be\r\navailable to be tapped as needed.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Senator Frank H. Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who is leading\r\nthe fight in the Senate for drilling, said he saw \"some progress\" in Senator\r\nDaschle's comments today, but not enough. <\/p>\r\n \r\n Mr. Murkowski said that by not allowing a straight majority vote,\r\nMr. Daschle was \"using the rules to subvert the will of the majority of the\r\nSenate.\"<\/p>\r\n \r\n \"If he wants to put a 60-vote requirement on an issue as important\r\nto national security as energy,\" Mr. Murkowski said, \"each senator is going\r\nto have to recognize his obligations to our national security as opposed\r\nto environmental extremists.\"<\/p>\r\n \r\n
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