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Dravis, Samantha[dravis.samantha@epa.gov] POLITICO Pro Energy Whiteboard Wed 11/15/2017 5:33:09 PM Senate Energy committee approves ANWR drilling bill
By Ben Lefebvre
11/15/2017 12:31 PM EDT
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today advanced a bill that would open up a section of Arctic Natural Wilderness Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
The 13-10 vote represented a major win for committee Chairman Sen. Lisa Murkowski (RAlaska), who has advocated opening ANWR to drilling for years. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to cross over on an otherwise party-line vote.
The bill directs the Interior Department to offer two ANWR leases of at least 400,000 acres each within 10 years of the bill passing. It now goes to the Senate Budget Committee to be included in the wider budget reconciliation package.
Critics have charged that opening ANWR will damage a pristine environment, including an area important for porcupine caribou calving. They also contend that it won't come close to raising the $1 billion over 10 years that Murkowski said it will.
Murkowski disputed those criticisms, saying that the land being offered up for drilling would only be a small sliver of the greater 19.3 million-acre refuge.
The committee added an amendment offered by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would increase the share of money coastal states receive as part of revenue sharing with the federal government and use some funding to rebuild Louisiana's coastal wetlands.
WHAT'S NEXT: The ANWR bill was drafted under budget reconciliation instructions, which would allow it to pass the Senate without overcoming a filibuster. Its fate is tied to the tax bill that Republicans also are planning to pass using reconciliation.
To view online'. https://www.politicopro.eom/energy/whiteboard/2017/l l/senate-energy-committee-ap anwr-drilling-bill-095690
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