Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a critic of drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), was expected to offer an amendment Tuesday to strike the pro-ANWR provision from the budget resolution now being considered on the Senate floor.

Debate and a vote on the Cantwell amendment could occur as early as Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the senator. He said ANWR opponents in the Senate would need to come up with 51 votes to strip out the pro-ANWR language, which seeks to open up the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic refuge to oil and natural gas exploration.

If the Cantwell amendment is included in the budget measure, which can’t be filibustered, it would put an end to the drive by the pro-ANWR forces in the Senate to open up the Arctic refuge to energy development.

The Cantwell amendment, which is co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), mirrors the one offered by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) in the Senate Budget Committee last week. It was defeated along party lines by a vote of 12-10 (see Daily GPI, March 10).

The pro-ANWR forces, led by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and the Alaska congressional delegation, believe that the Senate will vote to keep the pro-ANWR provision in the budget measure this week.

A favorable vote by the Senate would cap off a long-standing, contentious dispute between anti-ANWR forces (environmentalists) and pro-ANWR forces (energy industry and its congressional allies) over drilling in Alaska’s Arctic refuge.

In 2003, Democrats succeeded in removing an ANWR provision in the budget, but Republicans gained four seats in last November’s election, strengthening the likely pro-drilling vote this year, the Congressional Green Sheets reported.

Congress passed ANWR as part of the budget measure in 1995, but it was promptly vetoed by President Clinton. This time around, however, ANWR has the strong support of President Bush.

In the meantime, pro- and anti-ANWR senators held dueling press conferences on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as the showdown over whether to whether to allow drilling in a small section of ANWR draws near. A Senate vote is expected later this week.

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