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THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2003

"Interior Secretary Gale Norton should have known better than to call the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a "flat, white nothingness." Norton made the comment at a U.S. Senate committee hearing last week as the full chamber was moving toward a vote that would lead to the opening of the coastal plain to oil drilling.

It was terrible timing.

In the chamber Tuesday, the latest attempt to open ANWR fell two votes short of remaining in the national budget resolution. Drilling supporters now must place their slim hopes on a joint conference committee with the House, which has adopted a measure endorsing ANWR drilling.

Both sides acknowledged the Senate vote would be extremely close, which is why Secretary Norton's comment about the value of ANWR appears all the more reckless."

Get the Story:
Editorial: What was she thinking? (The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 3/20)

Relevant Links:
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Willdife Service - http://arctic.fws.gov
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Pro-Development site - http://www.anwr.org

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