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By Courtney Mabeus
CapitalEye
Friday 18 March 2005
After years of trying, Senate Republicans on Wednesday succeeded in easing the path to opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, a development that promises to intensify a decades-old lobbying battle as proponents of drilling move into the homestretch of their effort.
The Senate defeated by 51 to 49 an attempt to remove from the 2006 budget resolution a provision that would open ANWR to drilling. By including the provision in the budget bill, Republican leaders have avoided the threat of a Democratic-led filibuster.
Opponents of drilling will have another chance to defeat the proposal after House and Senate leaders meet to resolve differences in their respective budget resolutions, or later when committees in both chambers decide the details for drilling in ANWR.
But Democratic and Republican lawmakers have acknowledged in public statements that supporters of drilling have a better chance than ever of success, setting up a dramatic last-ditch lobbying effort on both sides of the debate.
Oil companies are hoping their considerable political clout, built up over years of generous campaign giving and lobbying, will put drilling in ANWR over the top. The oil and gas industry has contributed $179.7 million since 1989 to federal candidates and political parties, 74 percent to Republicans.
Two oil companies, ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil, rank among the top all-time campaign contributors. ChevronTexaco has contributed $8.9 million since 1989 in individual, PAC and soft money donations, 75 percent to Republicans. The company, the second largest oil producer in the country, has spent more than $38 million since 1997 to lobby Congress and the federal government. Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest oil producers, has contributed $8.2 million since 1989 in individual, PAC and soft money donations, 87 percent to Republicans. The company has spent more than $62 million on lobbying since 1997.
Exxon Mobil is a member of Arctic Power, which bills itself as a grassroots, non-profit organization endorsed by the Alaska legislature that has been at the forefront of the ANWR drilling issue since 1992. The organization, which includes among its 10,000 members the Alaska Chamber of Commerce and state oil and gas associations, contends on its Web site that drilling could create as many as 736,000 jobs. Artic Power has spent $1.7 million on federal lobbying since 1997.
An Arctic Power representative could not be reached for comment.
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