20/03/2003

Good news on a bad day: Bush defeated over Arctic
20 March 2003

George W Bush has been defeated by his own Senate which rejected his plans to drill for oil in the pristine Arctic wilderness.

Coming on the day before he began an illegal war on Iraq, Bush's defeat in the Senate is a major setback.

Bush argued that, for energy security, the USA needed oil from the 19m acre National Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

However, while industry often says there are 16 billion barrels of oil under the Refuge's coastal plain, the U.S. Geological Service estimates the amount that could be recovered economically (the amount likely to be profitably extracted and sold) to be roughly 3.2 billion barrels.

Moreover, it would take 10 years for that oil to reach the pump, and even when production peaks - in the distant year of 2027 - the Refuge would produce less than 2 percent of the oil Americans are expected to use that year.

Despite intense lobbying by the White House, an amendment was passed on Wednesday by 52 votes to 48 removing the provision allowing drilling to commence from the 2004 budget resolution.

ExxonMobil was among the oil industry push to drill in the refuge.

Known as "America's Serengeti," the Refuge supports large populations of caribou, musk oxen, polar, black, and brown bears, wolves, snow geese, and thousands of other migratory birds.

BBCnews story
Arctic Wildlife Refuge background at National Resources Defense Council

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