ARRRGH! The HOUSE did this? To get it through the Senate was a monumental achievement, and now some fucks from another state - REPUBLICANS FROM ANOTHER STATE - are fucking it all up?

BTW, hearing those idiot Senators chastizing energy producer execs for high energy prices yesterday really pissed me off, considering that it is Congress that has put up all sorts of obstacles to domestic exploration and production of energy that could help drive down the price of energy. Prime example: ANWR. They could also ease up on the taxes. But no, they grandstand instead in front of evil oil executives who can't do shit about prices set by the market.

We should never have marked ANWR off-limits to drilling. But if we're going to drill it now, we have to be pretty damn sure we have a mechanism going forward so this doesn't happen again. Otherwise we'll never be able to save any area from drilling. I'm all for drilling that shithole, but our word needs to mean something.

Also, I don't know of Americans are up for any lectures from Dubya these days.

"I'm all for drilling that shithole, but our word needs to mean something."

It's my understanding that congress can not enjoin a future congress from doing something. That is what a constitutional amendment is for. So, like any other current law that congress can repeal, congress has the right, and should have the right, to change laws dealing with federal land use. Politics change, technology changes, and needs change. So, there should not ever be, short of a constitutional amendment, any "word" given by today's congress that a future congress cannot revoke - that is called democracy. Now, it may not be good politics or good policy to revoke a previous committment made by congress, but the "word" argument as to why not to drill in ANWR, or anywere else, is really not a good argument.

I don't mind. Keeping ANWR around in case of emergency is useful, and provides us with a little more leverage over OPEC. The price of gas is still liveable, currently. When it gets bad enough, we'll drill there.

This definitely brings me into a HULK SMASH! mood. Goddamn politicians! What's the use in having a Republican majority if the Republicans are as namby-pamby as the Democrats? Jesus, what a colossal circle-jerk.

Any surprise that the RINOs are mostly from liberal eastern states?

We have to keep ANWR pristine for strategic caribou purposes.

SJKevin, ANWR can't be set aside for an emergency. It will take 10 years to get any wells drilled there up and running. If Clinton didn't veto the measure to open it in 1994, we would have an additional supply of oil to push down the high prices everyone's wailing about now.

Also, the viability of ANWR depends on the operation of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Production from Prudhoe Bay and other oil fields on the North Slope is falling, and without oil flowing through the pipeline, the oil companies that own it are going to shut it down. This is why Alaskans are chomping at the bit to get ANWR open, ASAP. The loss of jobs and revenue from the oil industry shutting down is just going to be devastating to our economy. Without oil flowing, there's no reason to keep all that infrastructure in place and maintained.

If ANWR isn't opened while Bush is president and with the GOP majority we have in Congress now, it will probably never be opened =(

Yeah, we'll just have a spare oil field that will only be used in case of emergencies. We can have it fully staffed, year round. I mean, how much can that cost?

It reminds me of Eugene Robinson's post Katrina "analysis," all we need is a federal spare city program to move people to in time of crisis.

Actually, VT, I wasn't thinking of congressional action. That's why I specified a mechanism rather than the status quo. A lot of property is transferred with covenants restricting it's future use and those are really really hard to violate. How you transfer Federal land into a trust with those convenants attached I do not know, but it's worth looking into.

I want to drill ANWR because I am so sick of the enviromental whackos. They need a real good slap down. Besides, the land was bought for us to exploit. Let's exploit it.

Hmmm...what's H. Ross Perot doing these days? I suddenly feel very curious about his organization again.

There is one and only one way to prevent this from happening in the future--and it's not at all difficult to do.

If any significant minority of voters who normally donate to the GOP or to Republican candidates chose instead to donate to the Democrat opponents of these RINO's in the next election cycle, the RINO's would all lose their seats.

This would only have to be done once. Even GOP leaders would understand this message.

Brett Bullington

There you go again, assuming that people learn lessons from things.

Breaking News: Democratic strategists considered a plot to plant telepathic slugs in the ears of a number of Republican Congressmen and Senators. The slugs would give them the ability to have nearly complete control over the Republicans' voting and public statements. However, the program was abandoned because it simply wasn't necessary.

Traitors traitors all they are no better then BENIDICT ARNOLD

Well, these guys obviously didn't learn anything from the poor GOP turnout in the last election.

the pipeline is owned by aleyeska, the oilfields sit on land belonging to the government. without the pipeline, the oilfields are useless. I doubt they would be tempted to consider it in the first place, but sweet justice would be for BP and ConocoPhillips (two largest operators on the slope) to scale back production to the minimum amount necessary to keep the pipeline operational. Maybe even shut the whole damn thing down and section the pipline up and ship it to Iraq. I hear they would be able to put it to use. With the layoffs and lost revenue from royalties, the impact to the Alaskan economy would be devestating. Then the CEOs could go before Congress and explain that they didn't want to appear greedy and make too much money, you see.

Interesting pipeline facts (from aleyeska's site):

# Length: 800 miles.
# Diameter: 48 inches.
# Crosses three mountain ranges and over 800 rivers and streams.
# Cost to build: $8 billion in 1977, largest privately funded construction project at that time.
# Construction began on March 27, 1975 and was completed on May 31, 1977.
# First oil moved through the pipeline on June 20, 1977.
# Over 14 billion barrels have moved through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.
# First tanker to carry crude oil from Valdez: ARCO Juneau, August 1, 1977.
# Tankers loaded at Valdez: 16,781 through March 2001.
# Storage tanks in Valdez- 18 with total storage capacity of 9.1 million barrels total.

Gas is down to $2.07/gallon in parts outside of Boston.

Is Bush to blame?

Best comment so far: I want to drill ANWR because I am so sick of the enviromental whackos.

You gotta love this kind of thinking. After all, we need to allow factories to pour mercury emissions and sulpher into the air because that would also enrage the environmentalists.

If we can't manage that, then we could try pouring raw sewage and industrial waste directly into every lake and river in the country. And you know all those beaches we have? Perfect for municipal landfill. Any good environment we have needs to be thoroughly, utterly, and permanently ruined and trashed because liberals hate that sort of stuff.

You guys are brilliant.

Do keep in mind that all of the oil estimated to be extractable from ANWR would be enough to allow us to kiss off the Middle East for a whopping six months. After that, we'd have to go back to them anyway. But that six month's worth of oil is definitely a fair trade for permanently trashing the last unspoiled wilderness in America. Right?

The funny thing about you fundamentalist conservative wingers is that you see no value in wilderness. To you clowns, Yellowstone National Park is nothing but a Wal-Mart parking lot currently covered up with trees. And if you do manage to help BushCo clearcut our parks they way they want to, it isn't the liberals you'll be hurting, no, you'll only be screwing over the person you look at in the mirror every morning.

But ANWR drilling isn't about energy prices, security, supply or strategic policy. You know it isn't. It is ONLY about steering some cheap 'n' easy cash into the oil industry's coffers. They'll make out great since the government will subsidize the extraction. Wouldn't affect pump prices by a cent.

Best comment so far:

It's not at all clear that this is from a bona fide commenter - it smacks of a liberal troll trying to caricature the conservatives.

The funny thing about you fundamentalist conservative wingers is that you see no value in wilderness.

Engaging in completely unfounded hyperbole? Or perhaps trying to caricature the liberals?

permanently tr ashing the last unspoiled wilderness in America.

Uhhh, you are at least a TINY bit aware of how uninformed and brain-blisteringly stupid that remark is, right?

It is ONLY about steering some cheap 'n' easy cash into the oil industry's coffers.

OK. Busted. Hey, guys, I guess it's time to focus on pumping profits into Big Fast Food. They're onto our Big Oil scam-that-we-get- nothing-out-of.

Please, God, send me some reassurance that this loon can't vote. Or drive.