The three senators, early on, stated there would be an oil and gas provision in the bill to help gain bi-partisan support, and asked Senator Murkowski who is minority leader in the Energy Committee to draft the section.  Senator Murkowski’s reply was to submit the long contentious ANWR and newer OCS issues vital to the future economic success of her state. 

Senator’s Lieberman and Kerry are both well known for their desire to lock up ANWR and Alaska’s OCS to any development of any kind.  Lieberman currently is the author of a senate bill to declare ANWR’s 10-02 Area as a “wilderness zone” as defined by the National Wilderness Act.  Upon being notified of Murkowski’s submission Senator Lieberman quickly rebutted ANWR “is a no-no”, which would mean the text would most probably be rejected.  Murkowski stated her price for support of their proposed Cap & Trade bill would be ANWR and OCS. 

The three senators will now have to decide how to proceed with their bill.  Earlier forms of Cap & Trade promoted by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) passed out of her Environment and Public Works Committee last year but were effectively declared dead due to certain filibuster by Republicans and lack of 60 votes in her own Democrat camp to overrule such an action.  Cap and Trade, like ANWR, has become a largely partisan issue on Capitol Hill. 

There are a few senators on either side of the aisle who vote against the norm of their party and for the Democrat majority this situation has prevented them from achieving 60 votes to overturn a filibuster.  It is expected that Senator Boxer (Chairwoman of Environment and Public Works Cmte.) along with Senator Collins of Maine will submit a third form of Cap & Trade legislation soon.  Many senators have commented though they believe the issue too controversial to succeed in this short election year.

Although the two issues of Cap & Trade and ANWR/OCS exploration have to a large extent remained separate up until this time, the connection of CO2 emissions with the endangerment of the polar bear finding under the Endangered Species Act in 2009 has somewhat brought the two together.  The endangerment finding comes with a declaration of “Critical Habitat” affecting where the animal lives and instigates limits to human activity in that area. The State of Alaska has maintained that the listing of the polar bear due to CO2 emissions and “global warming” was done as purely a land lock up weapon through pressure by environmental groups in order to prevent oil and gas exploration.  The polar bear populations in Alaska and world wide are increasing on average not decreasing as one would assume under such a listing. 

A third of the State of Alaska’s economy comes from oil and gas production in the Arctic and over 87% of the state’s tax base come from oil and gas taxes on the industry.  Currently the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is 1/3rd full and falling not due to lack of oil in the Arctic, but due to lack of production of oil which is being continually prevented by litigation from environmental groups and lack of permission to access land like ANWR’s 10-02 from Congress and the Department of Interior.  Alaska pumped its 16 billionth barrel of oil last year since production began over 30 years ago and yet the USGS estimates there are 29.9 billion barrels still recoverable on and off shore in the Alaskan Arctic and 221 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  ANWR’s 10-02 Coastal Plain region is estimated to contain a median of 10.4 bbls. of oil by itself and lies only 60 miles from the start of TAPS.  Continued blockage of legislation to allow 10-02 exploration by the likes of Senator’s Kerry, Lieberman and Boxer have prevented the issue from being resolved.