Cantwell refuses to give up

Senator Maria Cantwell spoke yesterday on her plans to continue fighting even after yesterday's 51-49 defeat of the amendment to stop drilling in the Arctic Refuge:

"The fight over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is far from over," said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who led the opposition. "We almost stopped this budget trickery on the floor today. ... I'll be prepared to use every tool at my disposal to stop drilling in the Arctic. We need a serious national strategy to move us toward energy independence."

Cantwell's leadership on this issue has been most impressive, and her refusal to give in after a tough fight is a very encouraging sign for all that care about the sanctity of the environment. There are already ideas for how to derail it:

Among other ideas, opponents said they would challenge the ANWR provision on parliamentary grounds. The challenge will argue that the ANWR provision is out of order on a budget bill because it deals with policy rather than money. Republicans counter that the provision is safe because it calls for the government to raise $2.7 billion by selling leases and through royalties from ANWR during the next five years.

Another possible hurdle is the fact that final passage of the budget bill containing the ANWR provision is not assured. Congress has been unable to pass the budget bill in two of the past three years, and this year there are major fights looming on Medicaid spending, tax cuts and other politically divisive questions.

Ted Stevens is both an idiot and a fool. Opening the Refuge to oil drilling is all about bringing more money to his state. The oil that would come out of there could barely satisfy our current and growing oil consumptions for a few months. And it comes at the expense of losing one of the world's last greatest untouched wildernesses.

We need to be looking for alternative energy solutions, not drilling in the Arctic for more oil.