Monument lands in West protected

Senate votes with House to prohibit coal mining, oil drilling

Washington Post, Thursday, July 12, 2001

©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/12/MN197778.DTL&type=news

Washington -- In a rebuff to President Bush's call for increased U.S. energy production, the Senate voted yesterday to block new coal mining and oil and gas drilling projects on national monument lands in the West.

By a 57-to-42 vote, with 10 Republicans joining most Senate Democrats, the Senate sided with the House, which last month approved a similar restriction. California's Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, voted for the ban.

The two chambers' votes make it likely that the prohibition will be included in the compromise spending bill for the Interior Department that they will write in coming weeks.

Although the Bush administration has not proposed specific exploration ventures within national monuments, the Interior Department recently said there were large energy deposits on those lands, including low-sulfur coal reserves in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.

Some of the projected energy sites are on lands protected by former President Bill Clinton late in his presidency, a move attacked by congressional Republicans from the West.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced the measure barring new energy projects on monument grounds. "President Bush needs to realize that damaging these irreplaceable lands is not going to solve America's energy crisis, but could cause a crisis in conservation," he said.

The Senate vote came on a motion to table Durbin's amendment, which then passed on a voice vote as part of an $18.7 billion measure to fund federal public lands programs in the fiscal year beginning in October.

The Bush energy plan issued in May said it was imperative to increase oil and gas production from Alaska, the Rockies and coastal regions, lessening U.S. dependence on Middle East oil imports.

Robert Allison, chairman of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in Houston, said recently that an estimated 100 million acres on protected federal lands contained energy deposits. "As an industry, we cannot get enough production to meet this country's energy needs without access to parts of those lands that are off-limits," he said.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said yesterday's ban would compel the nation "to go begging to the thieves in the Middle East."

But these arguments have been undercut by other industry executives and analysts who say there is no global shortage of energy and that the potential increases in U.S. energy production would never be enough to eliminate dependence on foreign oil.

A recent drop in gasoline prices and manageable summer electricity demands have undercut public support for a sharp change in energy policies, further weakening the administration's hand.

House Republican leaders continued a campaign yesterday to pass several energy measures, including the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coast to oil and gas drilling, against indications of House opposition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page C - 2

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), July 12, 2001