Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Legislative Actions Through the 108th Congress

Publication Date: March 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Environment

Type:

Abstract:

A major element of the energy policy debate in Congress has been whether to approve energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska, and if so, under what conditions, or whether to continue to prohibit development in order to protect the area's biological resources. Current law forbids energy leasing in the Refuge. ANWR is an area rich in fauna, flora, and commercial oil potential. Sharp increases in prices of gasoline and natural gas from late 2000 to early 2001 and again in 2004 to 2005, and terrorist attacks in the United States and Middle Eastern oil fields, renewed the ANWR debate for the first time in five years. However, its development has been debated for over 40 years.

This report is intended to provide a summary of legislative attempts from the 95th through the 108th Congresses, with emphasis on the 107th and 108th Congress, to address the issues of energy development and preservation in the Refuge. This history has been cited by many, in and out of Congress, as a background for issues being raised in the 109th Congress. The report contains little analysis of the substance of this issue, which is covered in other CRS reports. See CRS Issue Brief IB10136, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 109th Congress, for information on actions in the 109th Congress relative to ANWR. This report will not be updated.

In the 107th Congress, provisions to open ANWR to development were incorporated into H.R. 4, an omnibus energy bill passed by the House. The Senate passed its own version of H.R. 4, which lacked Refuge development provisions. Conferees met, but were unable to reconcile the two versions of H.R. 4 in many areas, including Refuge development. No conference report was issued. The legislation lapsed at the end of the 107th Congress.

In the 108th Congress, the Senate passed an amendment to strip language from the Senate budget resolution that would have facilitated subsequent passage of ANWR development legislation. The House passed H.R. 6, an omnibus energy bill, which would have opened ANWR to development. It included an amendment to limit certain features of federal leasing development to no more than 2,000 acres, without restricting the total number of acres that could be leased. The Senate passed its version of H.R. 6 by adopting the provisions of its omnibus energy legislation from the 107th Congress, which contained no provision to open the Refuge to development. The conference committee did not include ANWR development language in the conference report. The conference report was agreed to by the House; the Senate considered the measure, but a cloture vote failed. The legislation lapsed at the end of the 108th Congress.