ANWR in the crosshairs.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Giddy over recent election gains in Congress, Republicans say they're ready to deliver to President Bush one of his most cherished goals - opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Arctic drilling was one of Bush's top energy priorities when he was elected in 2000. But a bipartisan Senate majority narrowly thwarted several attempts by GOP leaders to open up America's most pristine Arctic coastal plain area to oil and gas development.

In their latest effort, Senate Republicans plan to ram through drilling in the ANWR by including it in a budget resolution that cannot be filibustered by the Democratic minority. Sen. Pete Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who is chairman of the energy committee, believes his party's new 55-seat majority ensures that he can secure the 50 votes required for passage.

Republicans tried a similar strategy last year and failed by two votes, thanks to the gutsy opposition of a handful of GOP moderates, including Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith. Despite the losses of several anti-drilling senators in the Nov. 2 election, there's reason to hope that Congress will continue to recognize the importance of protecting the Arctic refuge from drilling - and the American public's strong support for doing so.

Domenici argues that that with oil at $50 a barrel, drilling in the refuge is an urgent priority. But neither oil prices nor the push to increase domestic energy supplies override the powerful arguments for leaving the refuge intact.

Located in far northeastern Alaska, the remote refuge provides irreplaceable habitat for elk, polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and more than 130 species of birds. While the administration argues that new technologies would minimize harm from drilling, a report last year by the research arm of the National Academies of Science concluded that drilling would cause substantial damage to the fragile tundra and its wildlife.

Meanwhile, even the most optimistic estimates predict that the refuge's oil would satisfy total U.S. demand for only six months. And it would take six to eight years at the earliest before the first ANWR oil would reach refineries.

If congressional Republicans are serious about addressing the nation's energy supply problem, they should enact legislation that increases the fuel efficiency of our cars and light trucks. More than 40 percent of the oil that this nation uses flows into our vehicles. Even a modest increase in mileage standards could reduce national gas consumption by one-fifth, a technologically feasible move that would save more oil than could ever be pumped out of the Arctic refuge.

President Bush has interpreted his election victory as a mandate for change, including his patently pro-industry environmental agenda. Yet polls show that 70 percent of Americans opposes exploitation of the Arctic refuge.

Bush should remember that it was another Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, who in 1960 had the vision to set the refuge aside for future generations. Two decades later, Congress expanded the refuge to 19 million acres and designated a major portion as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System - despite strong opposition by the oil industry.

Republican moderates, including Smith, can expect pressure to abandon their well-founded opposition to drilling. They should hold firm and join Democrats in resisting this new attempt to raid the Arctic refuge.