The numbers compare favorably to the 110th Congress (2006-08) which managed to rack up 19 bills on the issue within the two year term.  A majority of the bills were introduced between January and mid July 2009 with only one resolution being introduced in May this year(2010).  Despite the fact that the political Democrat majority in both House and Senate do not generally support the ANWR issue, ANWR legislation easily tops all other energy legislation in shear number of bills submitted.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both are vehemently opposed to allowing pro-ANWR legislation to pass and thus it is unlikely they will allow a pro-ANWR bill to make it out of committee for debate on the floor.  Pressure will be on Committee Chairmen where bills reside to bury any pro-ANWR legislation.  At the end of the 111th Congress in December all bills will be wiped clean of the slate and the process begins again.  The November mid-term elections will undoubtedly reshape the political playing field once again leaving hope for a more successful future for the issue.

Even with a successful bill exiting committee today it would be hard to see debate time on the floor of either body as currently with the two major health care and “cap & trade” bills dominating all activity in Congress debate time is all but taken for the foreseeable future.  However, given an international crisis involving the supply of oil or a natural disaster affecting its supply or production and everything could change overnight on Capitol Hill.

Since the gasoline crisis in mid 2008 several trends seem to have begun with the authors of ANWR legislation.  Most new ANWR bills are not stand alone but rather incorporate an ANWR provision within a broad energy plan.  These “all of the above” style energy bills recommend traditional green energy sources as well as hydrocarbon and nuclear sources stating that no single or even group of energy sources will be able to meet our future energy needs.  Each energy source having its best optimum for different geographic areas by nature.  These bills work on the premise that the future and current energy demands of the nation are such that no single or even group of energy sources could supply or should expect to meet all our energy needs, thus all of the above are needed. 

Another characteristic of some ANWR bills is the use of tax dollars earned from production of oil and gas from ANWR used to pay into an “alternative energy fund” to pay for, in entirety, provisions for developing solar, wind and other alternative energies.  The point being that we need to develop these new energies but that they initially cannot pay for themselves and that ANWR provides a way to do so without tapping into taxpayers pockets.  The Office of Management and Budget has estimated that ANWR could produce between $105-289 billion in revenue to the Federal coffers, all of which, under some ANWR legislation would be used for development of alternative energies.  This is obviously a sweetener to the environmental movement and its supporters to mitigate a solution to the ANWR deadlock.  Sadly, by co-sponsor support it seems not many Congressmen are convinced. 

Pro-ANWR bills in the House

HR. 49 American Energy Independence and Price Reduction Act; Rep. Don Young (AK-al); 01/06/09; Co-Spon 52

HR.1431 No Cost Stimulus Act of 2009; Rep. Rob Bishop (UT-1); 3/11/09; Co-Spon 49

HR. 2250 The Energy Independence Now Act of 2009; Rep. Dan Barton (IN-5); 05/05/09; Co-Spon 0

HR.2300 The American Energy Innovation Act; Rep. Rob Bishop (UT-1) succeeded by HR.2828; 05/07/09; Co-Spon -0

HR. 2539 No More Excuses Energy Act of 2009 (ANWR subsection – American-made Energy and Good Jobs Act) ; Rep. Mac Thornberry (TX-13); 05/21/09; Co-Spon 5

HR. 2631 Affordable Gas Price Act ; Rep Ron Paul (TX-14) 05/21/09; Co-Spon 0

HR. 2828 The American Energy Innovation Act;  Rep Rob Bishop (UT-1); 06/11/09; Co-Spon 72

HR. 2846 American Energy Act (aka. American Energy Independence and Price Reduction Act); Rep. John Boehner (OH-8); 6/12/09; Co-Spon 115

HR. 3009 American Made Energy Act of 2009 Rep. Mike Ross (AR-4 ); 06/23/09; Co-Spon 3

HR. 3505 American Energy Production and Price Reduction Act Rep.Gary Miller (CA-42); 7/31/09 Co-sponsors 1

HR. 4485 New Resources for Domestic Consumption Act of 2010, Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-4), 01/25/2010 Co-sponsors 0.

H.Con.Res 281 FY 2011 Budget Plan, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-4), 5/26/2010 Co-sponsors 46 Referred to House Budget Committee

Pro-ANWR bills in the Senate

S. 503 No Surface Occupancy Western Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act; Sen. Murkowski (R-AK); 2/27/09; Co-Spon 5

S. 570 No Cost Stimulus Act of 2009; Sen. Vitter (LA-R); 3/11/09; Co-Spon 18

S. 1333 Clean Affordable and Reliable Energy Act of 2009; Sen. John Barrasso (WY-R); 06/24/09; Co-Spon 6

Anti-ANWR bills in the House
HR. 39 Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act Rep. Markey (MA); 1/6/09; Co-Spon 90

Anti-ANWR bills in the Senate

S. 231 Amend NWRSAA 1966; Sen. Lieberman (CT-In); 1/14/09;  Co-Spon 25

All bills will stay on the books until the 112th Congress is sworn in January 2011.