Thursday, July 10th, 2008

The current state of the economy and skyrocketing energy prices have combined to revive the call to drill for domestic energy off the Gulf, East and West Coasts, as well as in ANWR. This week's feature article comes from our Third Quarter 2006 edition. Almost two years old, the piece still has real relevance in today's energy discussions.

Almost 4 years ago, the environmental lobby here in the United States was in full panic mode. That much was obvious when the doorbell rang on a rainy, cold January evening. My son announced that someone from something called the Sierra Club was at my front door. I eased open the storm door and stepped outside into the chilly night air. "This is about ANWR, isn't it?" I said, more as a statement than a question.

The lead activist, one of two that had been dispatched to my neighborhood on that dreary evening, reluctantly acknowledged that I was right. She produced a single piece of literature that contained only one message: Drilling is wrong. We spoke for perhaps twenty minutes, mostly about ANWR but more specifically on the well-founded fears that the 109th Congress would be the best window of opportunity for pro-drilling advocates to finally have their way. But as any presidential candidate will tell you, 48 months is a long time in the world of politics. Although the U.S. Senate appeared poised to open up ANWR to drilling, the run-up to the November midterm elections produced a climate that crushed those hopes.

In the fall of 2006, Richard Ranger of the American Petroleum Institute (API) conceded, "The prospects for legislation including ANWR don't look promising. There are several amendments out there, but with no main legislation moving forward there is no significant likelihood of passage in this session." Almost two years later, his words ring true. Since then, however, the energy markets have changed precipitously and so has the mood of the voting public.

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