Flogged-Dead-Horse Energy Policy - Yet Another ANWR Vote Thursday

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WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives is planning to this week vote yet again on opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Drilling in ANWR, a cornerstone of President Bush’s energy blueprint, is the only one of three Republican energy proposals that will come to a vote before lawmakers leave for a holiday recess at week’s end, Majority Leader John Boehner said Tuesday. A vote on opening about 2,000 acres of ANWR to drilling was likely on Thursday, House aides said.

A proposal to give companies incentives to expand refining capacity will be delayed, and the fate of a bill requiring the administration to rethink vehicle fuel efficiency standards was unclear, Boehner told reporters.

In the Senate, Alaska’s two Republican lawmakers said they would continue to push to advance ANWR drilling. Sen. Ted Stevens, chairman of the Commerce Committee, said ANWR drilling could be included in a package of energy legislation that Republicans are drafting for possible consideration this summer.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12954207/