Remember the new Arctic drilling regs the Obama Administration has been working to finalize? The safety rules that would govern any future offshore drilling? The U.S. House is poised to halt them.
On the House floor this evening, Alaska Congressman Don Young added an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would prevent the Interior Department from finalizing or enforcing the rules. It passed by voice vote.
So did another amendment that would keep Alaska’s more permissive predator hunting rules in place on national preserves and refuges. (Here’s the background, nutshell version: Two federal agencies want to ban practices like killing wolf pups and bear-baiting on Alaska land they manage. State game managers consider those hunting methods to be predator management tools they may deploy at times to keep game populations healthy.)
The House is expected to vote later tonight on two other Young amendments, both related to the Arctic. One would force the Obama Administration to keep three Alaska lease sales in its offshore leasing plan. Another would nix a new management plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that recommends new areas for wilderness status, the highest level of protection. (On its own, Young’s amendment would neither open ANWR for drilling nor create new wilderness. Either of those actions would require a separate act of Congress.)
The House is expected to vote on the full bill tomorrow. Even without controversial Alaska measures, the bill’s path through Congress is uncertain.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
