Senate Backs Drilling in Alaska Refuge

With all the hoopla surrounding the release of The Warrior newspaper this week, as well as the recent act of vandalism in response to the publication, few may have noticed that the Republican-controlled Senate was successful in passing a measure which called for the Interior Department to issue its first two leases for ANWR oil within two years. Furthermore, two more important victories came along with the vote supporting the measure. Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-Washington) amendment to the measure which would have removed drilling authority to ANWR was defeated and, most importantly of all, the Senate approved overwhelmingly the amendment requiring that none of the oil from ANWR be exported. This is a tremendous victory for the United States in its efforts to become energy independent from Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East. Now if only we can push to commence drilling in the forty-nine other states that would be even better.