157. GOOD GUYS WIN (FOR NOW) ON ANWR

For the last few months, ANWR has been a shameful case study in addictive behavior. The U.S. is like a pathetic junky whose stash has run out, trying to comb crumbs of dope out the carpet. Of course, when you're down there on the carpet with a magnifier, and a pair of tweezers, the last thing you want is for somebody to see you in that degraded state. You just gotta do it. Get it over as quick as possible, and hope nobody catches you in the act.

Hence the silence and apathy about the ongoing attempt to drill ANWR. The Senate quietly approved ANWR drilling in the budget reconciliation bill on Nov. 3, and nobody made much of a fuss. The media reported it on page 53D, and I sort of missed the groundswell of outrage at peak oil sites like The Oil Drum and peakoil.com. I didn't see any effort whatsoever from the U.S. peak oil community to stop drilling in ANWR. Which is pretty pathetic considering that the debate over drilling ANWR is the American equivalent of the debate on Easter Island about cutting down the last tree.

In fact, the only noticeable PR from the peak oil community was Matt Simmons mouthing off in every available media outlet about how we have to drill ANWR ASAP. Again, I kind of missed where the environmentalist/democrat peak oilers like Heinberg confronted Simmons and made a stink about it.

Nevertheless, I am glad to announce that the sneaky little plan to drill ANWR -- relentlessly pushed for years by Matt Simmons and his Republican cronies -- crashed and burned in the House today:

House leaders drop Arctic drilling from budget bill
Posted 11/9/2005 10:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday.

They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium.

The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions. President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge one of his top energy priorities.Source

--by JD