Senate Democrat vows filibuster on Alaska drilling
Date: 04-Sep-01
Country: USA
The Senate Energy Committee is due to vote in the second week of September on a broad energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. Environmentalists say drilling would jeopardize wildlife in the area.
A Reuters survey found that the measure was likely to pass the committee and send it to the Senate floor, where some Democrats have threatened to use a filibuster, a parliamentary technique, to try and kill the measure. Sixty votes are needed to break a filibuster and allow a vote on a bill.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is heavily lobbying senators to support the measure, saying it would create thousands of new jobs.
Teamsters President James Hoffa, also speaking on the NBC program, said he thought drilling supporters could gather the 60 votes needed to avert a filibuster in the Democratic-led Senate.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has already passed a wide-ranging energy bill that would open the Alaskan refuge to drilling.
