4.21.2005
House Votes for Oil Drilling in an Alaska Wildlife Refuge (USATODAY.com)
Posted 4/20/2005 10:16 PM Updated 4/21/2005 2:30 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to approve an energy bill that would open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and provide billions of dollars in benefits to energy industries, but critics say it does little to reduce the nation's thirst for oil.
The legislation, expected to be voted on by the House on Thursday, is certain to produce a confrontation with the Senate over protection of the Alaska refuge and over a provision in the bill that would help makers of a water-polluting gasoline additive deflect environmental lawsuits.
By a vote of 231-200, the House late Wednesday rejected an attempt to strip from the bill a section to allow oil drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. The House has given the go-ahead for drilling there twice in the past four years, only see the issue die in the Senate each time.
The House bill also would shield the makers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has prompted dozens of lawsuits over drinking water contamination, from defective product liability claims. The issue was blamed for scuttling energy legislation in the Senate in 2003.
(More ... USATODAY.com - House votes for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge) ¶ 23:54
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to approve an energy bill that would open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and provide billions of dollars in benefits to energy industries, but critics say it does little to reduce the nation's thirst for oil.
The legislation, expected to be voted on by the House on Thursday, is certain to produce a confrontation with the Senate over protection of the Alaska refuge and over a provision in the bill that would help makers of a water-polluting gasoline additive deflect environmental lawsuits.
By a vote of 231-200, the House late Wednesday rejected an attempt to strip from the bill a section to allow oil drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. The House has given the go-ahead for drilling there twice in the past four years, only see the issue die in the Senate each time.
The House bill also would shield the makers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has prompted dozens of lawsuits over drinking water contamination, from defective product liability claims. The issue was blamed for scuttling energy legislation in the Senate in 2003.
(More ... USATODAY.com - House votes for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge) ¶ 23:54
