Senate Said to End Push for Alaskan Oil Drilling

There will be no attempt to revive drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge as part of a Senate energy bill, says the Republican senator who will guide the legislation.

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) said the Senate’s recent rejection of a proposal to develop oil in the refuge made it clear that another such confrontation will fail and, perhaps, jeopardize broader energy legislation.

“There’s nothing mysterious about it. We’ll lose. We’ll bring it up, debate it for an hour or two. We’ll vote [and] lose,” said Domenici in an interview.

This week the House signaled that it again will call for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil companies.