Military bill may give refuge drilling a ride

Dec. 15, 2005, 9:59PM
Military bill may give refuge drilling a ride

By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Supporters of a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling needed a new legislative vehicle for their proposal. And lawmakers just happened to be putting the final touches on a bill to fund the military.

The fact that same legislation will likely provide disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as money to guard against an avian flu outbreak, just made it all the more enticing.

Stymied by a group of moderate House Republicans opposed to the original idea of attaching the drilling language to a budget bill, the backers of drilling in the reserve now want to tack language onto a Defense Department spending bill that would open a portion of the refuge in northern Alaska to oil and gas exploration.

"I'm still trying," Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said Thursday.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was coy on the matter. When asked about the status of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, he said, "It's still there in Alaska, I think."
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Hastert and friend.