US Interior Secretary Urges Alaska Refuge Oil Drilling
Date: 31-Oct-05
Country: USA
Author: Tom Doggett
The Senate is scheduled to consider budget legislation next week that would fund the federal government and also allow it to collect $2.4 billion in fees from leasing tracts in ANWR to big oil companies.
The Senate bill would have to be reconciled with similar budget legislation in the House that would also permit drilling in the refuge.
Norton admitted that it would take seven to 10 years for significant volumes of oil to flow from ANWR, once Congress gave the OK for energy exploration to begin.
However, Norton suggested it would be worth the wait as she said the refuge could provide up to 1 million barrels per day, equal to the amount of crude production still offline in the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"That is a very significant (oil supply) for America's economy," Norton told reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing. She said the refuge may account for 20 percent of US oil output.
Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens said he asked oil companies to check if they could get ANWR oil flowing sooner. He said there was enough space in Alaska's main pipeline from the state's North Slope to ship about 1 million barrels a day of ANWR oil.
"I think that (oil delivery) time can be truncated now," he said.
Norton said new drilling technology would allow energy companies to explore for oil in the refuge without harming the area's environment.
She pointed out that no oil was spilled from federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico at platforms that were destroyed or damaged by the recent hurricanes. "That, I think, is a real demonstration of how far our technology is able to go in protecting the environment," Norton said.
ANWR, which is about the size of South Carolina, sprawls across more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. It is home to polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and migratory birds.
Under both the Senate and House drilling plans, ANWR's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain would be opened for energy exploration, but no more than 2,000 acres of the surface area could be covered by production and support facilities, including airstrips and piers to hold up pipelines.
