A western senator yesterday urged Capitol Hill lawmakers not to spend too much time on the issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because, he cautions, it’s not going to get through Congress.

“I hope we don’t get caught up dancing on the head of this [pin] called ANWR,” because “frankly ANWR isn’t going to happen in this Congress,” said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Thursday on comprehensive energy legislation.

The comment caught Sen. Frank Murkowski, an avowed proponent of opening the coastal plain of ANWR to drilling, somewhat off guard. While a number of senators believe ANWR is a “dead issue,” the Alaska Republican continues to expound on the benefits of Arctic drilling for U.S. oil and gas supply, and to rebut opponents’ concerns about the impact it would have on the environment and caribou calving and herding.

Drilling in ANWR shouldn’t be treated any differently than other refuges in the United States, he said, citing as an example Louisiana, where 400 wells have been drilled in refuges.

If Congress would approve drilling in ANWR, Interior Secretary Gale Norton predicted the department could begin leasing in the region by around 2004. Further, she said she believes the coastal area can be opened safely to oil and gas exploration and production activity.

Norton estimated that the coastal region contains 7.7 billion barrels of oil, which she said is “about the equivalent of what we’re getting today from Saddam Hussein.”

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