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National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
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UPDATE - Alaska drilling fight looming with energy bill |
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| USA: June 28, 2002 | ||
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WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers yesterday began hammering out compromise legislation to overhaul American energy policy for the first time in a decade, with Democrats warning that opening an Alaskan refuge to drilling would kill any final deal.
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Clashes are expected over the Republican-led House of Representatives' desire to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and to distribute some $33 billion in energy tax credits. The Democratic-controlled Senate's version of an energy bill would keep the refuge off limits to drilling, triple the use of ethanol-blended gasoline and spend $14 billion on energy tax breaks. Democrats John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who are negotiators on the 61-member conference committee, said the Senate would reject energy legislation that gave oil firms access to the refuge. "Let me make this as clear as I can: Any proposal to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be dead on arrival in the Senate," Lieberman said. The Alaskan refuge, which stretches over 19 million acres.
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Story by Tom Doggett
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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