Senate Blocks Alaska Refuge Drilling

Dec 21, 1:17 PM (ET)

By H. JOSEF HEBERT

(AP) Senators, from left, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., John Kerry, D-Mass. and...


WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill where supporters positioned the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support.

Drilling backers fell four votes short of getting the required 60 votes to avoid a threatened filibuster of the defense measure over the oil drilling issue. Senate leaders were expected to withdraw the legislation so it could be reworked without the refuge language. The vote was 56-44.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was among those who for procedural reasons cast a "no" vote, so that he could bring the drilling issue up for another vote.

The vote was a stinging defeat for Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who for years has waged an intense fight to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He had thought this time he would finally get his wish.......

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20051221/D8EKPOEO0.html?PG=home&SEC=news


:toast:

Thanks for posting this.

:toast: :woohoo:

now the really interesting aspect of this is whether good old Ted will make good on his promise to leave the Senate if he does not get drilling passed. Want to make a bet that he stays right where he is? Not only is he a prick, he's a liar to boot.

During the vote, a grim-faced Stevens, 82, who had fought to open the refuge to drilling since 1980 and is the most senior Republican in the Senate, sat midway back in the chamber, watching his colleagues. When it became apparent that he had lost, he briefly talked with Frist, presumably over what move should be taken next. He briefly shook his head, a signal of his disappointment.

:bounce: :thumbsup:

This is a happy day for Alaskans (or at least some of us). :)