From: DAULTON, Mike [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Fri 5/5/2006 7:43 AM
To: Arctic Lobbying Team
Cc: Arctic Lobbying Team
Subject: [ak_lobby] RE: CongressDailyAM: ANWR/CAFE link


At least he said he's "not interested" in making a deal

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 9:15 AM
To: DAULTON, Mike
Cc: Arctic Lobbying Team
Subject: Re: [ak_lobby] CongressDailyAM: ANWR/CAFE link

I certainly don't like where boehlert's aide??? is heading vis a vis
trading arctic for cafe  (see last line)




             "DAULTON, Mike"

             <MDAULTON@audubon

             .org>
To
                                       "Arctic Lobbying Team"

             05/05/2006 08:55          <[log in to unmask]>

             AM
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Subject
             Please respond to         [ak_lobby] CongressDailyAM:

              "DAULTON, Mike"          ANWR/CAFE link

             <MDAULTON@audubon

                   .org>









ENERGY
ANWR, Mileage Standards Might Be Tied In Bid For Votes
     Senate Commerce Chairman Stevens and fellow Alaska Republican Sen.
Lisa Murkowski said Thursday their push for congressional authorization
to
drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge might be tied to a bid for
higher fuel-efficiency standards.
     Both issues are contentious and have come up short in the past. But
bundling the issues this year, while public outcry over soaring gasoline
prices is at its zenith, might prompt enough vote switches to make a
difference.
     Stevens said the House will approve and send the Senate a
stand-alone
ANWR drilling bill, something Murkowski said might happen before
Memorial
Day. The message coming from the House, Stevens said, is, "We'll help
you
on ANWR if you help us on CAFE," referring to the federal Corporate
Average
Fuel Economy standard.
     Stevens is one of the leading advocates for drilling in ANWR and
his
committee holds primary Senate jurisdiction over the fuel-efficiency
standards.
     The potential linking of the measures appears to be aimed at
moderates, many of whom are in favor of higher mileage standards but
chilly
toward ANWR drilling.
     This would not be the first time that an effort has been made to
link
ANWR drilling and higher fuel-efficiency standards. There was discussion
late last year about linking the issues during an unsuccessful attempt
to
authorize ANWR drilling in the FY06 budget reconciliation and Defense
Department spending bills.
     But those discussions took place without the outcry about gas
prices
that have topped $3 a gallon in parts of the country and absent the
pressures that an election year brings.
     ANWR drilling supporters have not had enough votes to overcome a
Senate filibuster in recent years. House moderate Republicans and
Democrats
also successfully thwarted a Senate GOP effort last year to include ANWR
drilling as part of the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation measure.
     Stevens said Senate Republicans will unveil a new gas price
strategy
next week in preparation for floor debate that would probably begin the
following week. That legislation would expand oil and natural gas
drilling
in the eastern Gulf of Mexico but does not authorize drilling in the
Alaska
wildlife area.
     "We're working on a short-term plan. We know that ANWR is not a
short-term issue," Stevens said.
     Those comments appear to undercut another ANWR proposal that was
the
subject of speculation around the Capitol Wednesday -- trying to include
ANWR drilling in the supplemental appropriations package.
     The House Energy and Commerce Committee next week will vote on a
bill
supported by the Bush Administration that gives the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration authority to review and raise the current
27.5 miles per gallon CAFE standard for passenger cars. But, Murkowski
said, "I don't think that in and of itself is sufficient." Many
Democrats
and moderate Republicans say the administration already has the
authority
to raise CAFE standards and wants Congress to prescribe a specific
increase
in the standards.
     The bill coming before the committee, sponsored by House Science
Chairman Boehlert and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., would raise the CAFE
standard for passenger cars to 33 miles per gallon by 2015. Last year
their
proposal received 177 votes in the House and a similar Senate amendment
only gained 28 votes. Both lawmakers have adamantly opposed drilling in
ANWR.
     An aide said Boehlert had not been approached about making a deal
and
was not interested in making one. The aide said there was only an
informal
promise during the talks late last year that a vote for ANWR drilling
would
elicit a GOP effort to try to include a CAFE increase in a later
conference
report.
     Any effort to tie the issues together would require a more formal
pledge to work for the CAFE standards, the spokesman said.    By Darren
Goode

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