Environmental safeguards challenged by opponents of Arctic refuge drilling

[Thom Little]

The proposal to drill for oil in an Alaska wildlife refuge will create the most environmentally friendly oil field in the world, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday - a claim disputed by drilling opponents.

They said the legislation before Congress could allow oil companies to skirt some existing environmental safeguards while weakening the ability to challenge oil leases in court.

The standoff in the Senate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska was expected to reach a climax Wednesday with a critical vote on whether the measure should be included in a massive defense spending bill. The outcome could be determined by one or two votes.

Drilling opponents have argued for years that opening the refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain to oil companies would threaten caribou calving areas and adversely disturb a pristine area that is home to polar bears, musk oxen and, during certain times of the year, millions of migratory birds.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ARCTIC_REFUGE_ENVIRONMENT_AKOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-20-18-24-58

[snowbear]

1. Gale Norton...

...gives me the creeps.

:scared: :scared: :scared: