Republicans on Thursday took another step closer to fulfilling their goal of allowing oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, by passing a 2018 budget plan.
The budget resolution, which the House passed 216-212, includes instructions for lawmakers to create filibuster-proof legislation to open the ANWR to drilling. Republicans are hoping new drilling will raise revenue to help pay for tax reform.
The House adopted the Senate’s budget resolution, which the upper chamber passed last week, rather than go to conference committee, so that Republicans can move quicker to tax reform. The Senate plan specifically included language calling on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to recommend policies to add another $1 billion in federal revenues over the next decade through drilling in the refuge.
Congressional Republicans have long pushed to allow energy exploration in a 1.5 million-acre section of the Alaskan refuge, where billions of barrels of oil lie beneath the refuge’s coastal plain. But Democrats have blocked those efforts over fears that drilling would harm the preserve.
The 19.6-million-acre refuge was created under President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960. In 1980, Congress provided additional protections to the refuge, but set aside a 1.5 million-acre section known as the “1002 area” for future drilling if lawmakers approved it.
Democrats have managed to block those efforts for decades. The Republican-controlled Congress in 1995 passed a budget allowing refuge drilling, but the measure was vetoed by former President Bill Clinton.
This year, the path for Republicans to permit drilling is easier than ever, as President Trump is expected to support it.
Last month, the Interior Department lifted restrictions on seismic studies to probe how much oil is under the refuge.
