Another refuge raid.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was a bad idea when President Clinton vetoed legislation authorizing it in 1996. Nearly a decade - and numerous failed attempts later - it's still a bad idea.

The latest raid on ANWR began early Monday when the Republican-led House attached a drilling provision to a major defense spending bill just before its passage.

The defense bill now goes to the Senate, where Democrats and Republican moderates - including Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. - must stand firm and once again block the relentless push to plop oil derricks and pipelines in the heart of some of America's wildest lands.

Drilling supporters' cynical strategy is to force opponents to relent by attaching the refuge language to a must-pass defense bill that funds nearly all U.S. military operations. The defense bill also contains funding for Hurricane Katrina recovery and money to help the nation prepare for a potential avian flu pandemic.

Sen. Ted Stevens, the powerful Alaska Republican who has made handing ANWR over to the oil industry a personal crusade for two decades, even had the temerity to argue that the drilling measure is essential for national security - and therefore a perfect fit for a defense spending bill.

If that's the case, Stevens should explain why he waited until the very last minute to slip the drilling language into the defense bill. He should also explain how Arctic oil that won't reach the pumps for another decade and that will have a negligible effect on U.S. imports will in any way enhance national security.

Stevens and others have fixated on the Arctic refuge and similar supply-side energy strategies for far too many years. If they really want to enhance national security and reduce America's dangerous reliance on foreign oil, lawmakers should develop sensible energy policies. They might start with a hefty increase in fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks - a simple, technically feasible move that could save more oil than could ever be siphoned from the refuge.

It's not necessary to add to the volumes that already have been written about the refuge's value as a national environmental treasure. Despite claims that drilling would leave only a small footprint, it would despoil a fragile coastal plain that provides habitat for an extraordinary array of wildlife - and, along with it, the lifestyles of native peoples who are dependent on it.

Scientists have warned that Arctic plants, animals and people are already under heavy siege from global warming. They should not be further victimized by a mindless, all-consuming push for oil whose consumption would only hasten the pace of climate change.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., already has signed a letter calling on Republicans to remove the Arctic provision from the defense bill before a final vote. Senator Smith, who until now has opposed drilling in the refuge, should join Wyden in rejecting this latest in a long series of misguided raids on the Arctic.