A key priority of Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will be to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of the budget reconciliation process next year, according to committee spokeswoman Marne Funk.

The Senate tried to do this in 2003, but lost out by two votes, she noted. Domenici will push the GOP-controlled Senate to take up the issue again probably in the February-March period, instructing the senate energy panel to draft a measure as part of the budget reconciliation action to open the ANWR coastal region to oil and natural gas drilling. The panel would have until May to draft legislation.

ANWR would be the sole energy-related issue dealt with in the budget reconciliation process because it would generate revenues, Funk said. In 2003, expected revenues from ANWR were estimated at $2.15 billion. With crude oil prices “up so dramatically,” she projected that revenues from ANWR would now be $3 billion-plus.

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