Alaska Drilling, Energy Policy to Clear Senate - Abraham
Date: 05-Jan-04
Country: UK / USA
"With the new composition of the Senate I believe it is feasible and likely that both ANWR and an energy policy will be passed," Spencer Abraham told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Russia's top nuclear official.
Abraham is due to step down when his replacement, Deputy Treasury Secretary Sam Bodman, is confirmed by the Senate.
The small Republican Senate majority in the last Congress failed to overcome a filibuster and pass the country's first overhaul of energy policy in more than a decade.
Now, with the new US Congress convening on Tuesday with an expanded Senate majority of 55 in the 100-seat US upper house, it should pass, he said.
Majority Leader Bill Frist on Monday reiterated Republican resolve to get a new policy in place, saying that "developing an energy policy" for the United States is one of the top three issues he will tackle.
Abraham helped promote the wildlife refuge as the source of an additional 1.5 million barrels per day of US oil supply as the Bush administration sought more energy supplies at home to combat high oil prices and instability in the Middle East.
Critics warned drilling in ANWR would harm wildlife and yield new supplies too slowly to ease an energy crunch. The ANWR proposal had been removed from the policy in the face of Senate opposition.
On another key energy priority for Bush's second term, Abraham said the US administration would continue to fill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve with a target of 700 million barrels, which Abraham said was an adequate supply cusion.
