The US Senate narrowly voted on Wednesday against opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling, defeating the centrepiece of President George W. Bush's energy policy.
In a tug-of-war largely along party lines, Republicans in the Senate called for allowing oil companies to explore the sprawling refuge to help reduce US oil imports.
Democrats, a few moderate Republicans and environmental groups argued that the pristine wilderness should be left untouched in favour of stricter oil conservation measures and drilling elsewhere.
The Senate voted 52-to-48 to reject drilling in ANWR. Eight Republicans crossed party lines to vote against giving oil companies access to the refuge. Five Democrats defied their party's leadership and cast votes in favour of drilling.
An Alaska Republican, Senator Ted Stevens, the leading proponent of the drilling plan, said the issue was not dead.
For example, ANWR drilling could be included by House and Senate negotiators when they eventually meet to finalise a 2004 budget resolution, he said.
A California Democrat, Senator Barbara Boxer, who led the fight against drilling, criticised Senator Stevens for making what she viewed as a threat to lawmakers who wanted to keep the refuge closed.
"People who vote against this today are voting against me and I will not forget it," Senator Stevens warned his colleagues just before the Senate roll call vote began.
As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he can influence funding for a senator's pet project or cause.
The Republican-led House of Representatives had previously approved by a wide margin drilling in the refuge, and is expected to again give the go-ahead to a drilling measure later this spring.
Republicans tried a new strategy to open the Alaskan refuge to drilling by attaching language to a pending federal budget for 2004. The measure would have included in the budget more than $2 billion in federal revenue collected from leasing fees that oil companies would pay to drill in ANWR.
The budget resolution includes spending cuts, tax cuts and funding for the federal government.
Republicans sought to use the budget bill to open ANWR because under Senate rules lawmakers can not filibuster budget legislation.
Opponents of drilling had said they would filibuster a bill that would have opened the refuge, as they did last year.
Drilling in ANWR, which may hold up to 16 billion barrels of crude, has been repeatedly endorsed by the Bush administration as the single best way to reduce US reliance on foreign oil.
Senator Boxer said the vote showed the White House energy plan was out of step with voters.
"I think this is a huge setback [for President Bush]," she told reporters. "This would have been their crown jewel."
Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana criticised green groups for spreading what he called "misinformation" about the impact of drilling on wildlife and land.
Senator Burns and other Republicans noted that drilling in the refuge would create badly needed jobs, and new technology would limit damage to the land or wildlife.
Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, urged lawmakers to reject ANWR drilling.
"This does not reduce in a significant way our dependence on imported oil," he said during the Senate debate.
He cited federal energy data estimating that any oil production from ANWR would not begin until about 2012, and that the field would be largely played out by 2025.
The refuge covers 19 million acres in north-eastern Alaska, but the Bush plan would open only 1.5 million acres on the coast to drilling.
Environmental groups praised the Senate vote.
"Once again, wildlife has won over wildcatters," the National Wildlife Federation said. "The Senate's vote also sends a clear message that we cannot drill our way to energy security."
Business groups, however, were not pleased.
The National Association of Manufacturers said it was disappointed that so many senators chose to ignore ANWR's potential benefits to the US economy, which is suffering from high energy prices.
The Governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski, a Republican, who left the Senate in December after 22 years trying without success to open the ANWR to oil drilling, lamented the latest defeat in the effort.
He criticised senators who voted against drilling, especially those from west coast states that use Alaskan oil.
Sentiments could change if events in Iraq or elsewhere in the world interrupt oil supplies, he said. - (Reuters)