House Republicans released a fiscal 2018 budget bill on Tuesday that Democrats and environmental groups are raising alarm over as a veiled attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
The bill’s budget instructions direct the House Natural Resources Committee to generate $5 billion through 2027, opening the door for Congress to overturn protections against drilling in the Arctic refuge through a budget reconciliation bill, which requires only a majority vote in the Senate.
Critics of the bill say it uses the budget reconciliation process to allow drilling in the ANWR, which the GOP has pressed for decades. The Trump administration has made opening at least part of the refuge a legislative priority in the fiscal 2018 budget request.
“This is a shameless attempt to push an extremely unpopular action through the back door of Congress on behalf of President Trump and the oil lobby,” said Drew McConville, the head of government affairs for the Wilderness Society.
“We’re confident that Americans will see through this scam and once again demand that the Arctic Refuge remain protected,” McConville said. “This refuge is a national treasure, and we have a moral obligation to protect it for future generations of Americans. It is simply too special to drill.”
The part of the bill the group is pointing to is the order for the House Natural Resources Committee, with jurisdiction over drilling on public lands, to find $5 billion over the next decades. That could be found by adding revenue from oil leases made on the wildlife refuge.
Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told reporters “we just found out about that earlier today,” but that Democrats may consider an amendment to block using ANWR to fill federal coffers.
