Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) indicated Friday that he will allow a vote on oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) if the Senate gets behind a measure to build a long-line gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48 states.

For ANWR to prevail, however, Daschle said 60 of the 100 senators would have to unite to support it, which Capitol Hill observers saw as unlikely. There was widespread speculation Monday that the controversial issue would come to a head in the Senate soon.

Daschle’s remarks were noteworthy because it was the first time he publicly expressed an interest in the Alaska pipeline, said a spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “When he expresses an interest in the pipeline, you can be sure it is shooting to the top of the list” of items on the Senate agenda. It’s “pretty safe to assume” that the Senate may act on Alaska pipeline legislation before it adjourns for the year, the committee spokesman said.

“I see some progress in Sen. Daschle’s comments. At least he is willing to take up this [ANWR] issue on the floor,” said Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), a key ANWR proponent. “But why is the Democrat leadership so afraid to give ANWR a straight up or down vote? Why do we need 60 votes to pass this?” ANWR, he noted, “is certainly something that should not be filibustered.”

Senate Democrats, for the most part, see “ANWR as just a big distraction,” while the “Alaska pipeline is the big deal,” the committee spokesman noted. Republicans, however, have expressed “some anxiety” about the pipeline issue overtaking the ANWR debate.

“An Alaskan natural gas pipeline isn’t going to do anything to help reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil,” argued Murkowski. “The owners of the Alaska gas [producers] have indicated it’s not economic at this time. There isn’t even an application submitted to build this line. Is Sen. Daschle suggesting the federal government spend the $20 billion to build the pipeline?”

In related development, the committee press aide noted Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Energy Committee met last Friday to discuss oil and natural gas issues that will be included in a comprehensive energy bill forwarded to Daschle for Senate action before adjournment. The committee members will meet Tuesday to address the electricity provisions of the bill, and on Thursday to take up energy efficiency initiatives.

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