Oil Drilling Anwar Alaska

Opinion- To Hell with National Security. Let's protect the Caribou. Environmental Lobby wins accolades from Socialists and Paid for Democrats. Sen. Joe Lieberman prefers Middle East Oil dependency. "I contend the development would do irreversible damage to this national treasure," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.

Oil Exploration in Arctic Refuge DOA- In the 54-46 vote, all Republicans voted for the oil exploration except Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois, John McCain of Arizona, Bob Smith of New Hampshire, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Olympia Snowe of Maine.

All Democrats (and Vermont "independent" Jim Jeffords) voted against the drilling except Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, John Breaux of Louisiana, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Zell Miller of Georgia.

The vote drew a sharp and immediate rebuke from the Interior Department.
"The Senate had the opportunity to strengthen our national security and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "ANWR production passed the House of Representatives on a bipartisan vote. ANWR production continues to be strongly supported by labor unions and Alaska's citizens. We will continue to work with this coalition as the House and Senate move the energy legislation to conference."

The Senate defeated an amendment to open a tiny 2000 acre section of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration. The mostly Republican supporters of the amendment failed to draw enough support for the measure to defeat a threatened Democrat filibuster. An amendment to the national energy policy bill under consideration by the Senate, the ANWR language was introduced and championed by Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski, who has pushed for reducing dependence on foreign oil imports.

National Security "This is a national security issue," Murkowski said shortly before the vote, while displaying a large picture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with "Oil is a Weapon" superimposed on it. "Is no one awake to the fact that we have problems in the Middle East, that we have a growing dependence on oil, that there are profound national security implications of producing as much oil as we will import from Saudi Arabia in the next 30 years, on 2,000 acres of land in a state with 317 million acres?" asked Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas.

Though the amendment would have opened no more than 2,000 acres within a 1.5 million-acre part of the refuge, Democrats claimed the plan would hurt northern Alaska’s ecology.

Update- Oil and the potential for World Crisis and Financial Disaster.

The Iraqis have vowed to stop shipping their 2 million barrels a day (half of which makes it to U.S. shores) in protest of Israel’s recent military efforts against Palestinians. OPEC partner Saudi Arabia has promised to make up the difference, which is a finger in the dike.

But OPEC member Venezuela’s strike could cause many more problems for OPEC and the oil-hungry U.S. To start shipping the refined crude the U.S. usually gets from Venezuela from the Mideast would cost oil companies huge amounts of money and be a logistical nightmare—oil from Venezuela takes a week to get to the U.S.; it takes six weeks to get it from the Mideast.

Another danger: As the Israeli conflict drags on, Muslim nations are becoming increasingly polarized and putting pressure on their governments to take a stand against the West.

Saudi Arabian and Egyptian governments are particularly vulnerable—they have active and vocal dissident populations and their economies are under serious economic stress. Venezuela’s presidential crisis could further complicate oil deliveries to the U.S. market. The bottom line: If you don’t have a position in oil stocks, consider adding it to your overall portfolio for diversification.

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