The US Senate reversed a decades-old ban on drilling in a pristine Alaska refuge, opening the area for oil exploration in what critics derided as a political ploy that will do little to allay the US' dependence on foreign oil.
With a 51-48 vote on Thursday, the Senate approved requiring the Interior Department to begin selling oil leases for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) within two years. Senators also overwhelmingly voted to ban exporting any of the crude from the region.
The decision -- a long-sought victory by the Bush administration -- marked a sharp reversal in the Senate where supporters of opening up ANWR have been unable to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by opponents. This year, drilling supporters attached language ending the ban on drilling in the refuge to a budget measure that is immune from filibuster.
The refuge, believed to hold an estimated 10.5 billion barrels of crude beneath the refuge's coastal tundra in northeastern Alaska, was set aside for protection 44 years ago.
Bush, in Argentina for a two-day summit, hailed the vote.
"Increasing our domestic energy supply will help lower gasoline prices and utility bills," he said in a statement.
"We can and should produce more crude oil here at home in environmentally responsible ways. The most promising site for oil in America is a 2,000-acre site in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and thanks to technology, we can reach this energy with little impact on the land or wildlife," Bush said.
But opponents called drilling in the refuge a gimmick that will have little impact on oil or gasoline prices, or US energy security.
"Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing gas prices" argued Senator Maria Cartwell, a Washington Democrat who led the effort to continue the ban.
Supporters have long argued that ANWR is key to reducing dependence on oil imports -- a hot-button issue among Americans as gasoline prices spiked in the wake of hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
The Senate's approval could provide some much needed impetus in the House of Representatives, which is considering a measure that also includes a provision to open ANWR to oil companies.
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