A victory, but not a done deal, for Arctic drilling

[wildflower]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7210486/

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It was a victory for Alaska’s two Republican senators, Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski, and for the Bush administration, but as both Stevens and Murkowski acknowledged in a news conference immediately afterward, substantial legislative hurdles remain before drilling could begin.

“Some people think we can send the exploration rigs out there tomorrow and that is not the case, we still have quite a ways to go,” Murkowski said.

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Speaking a few hours before Wednesday’s vote, Melinda Pierce, a lobbyist on the Arctic issue for the Sierra Club, said there was no assurance that the Republicans could pass the budget resolution due to “a whole host of things” including proposed cuts in Medicaid spending.

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And she added, “definitely litigation is a tool still available to us way down the line” to prevent drilling in ANWR.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7210486/