Despite what they say, President Bush and his oil company cronies don’t really care a lot about the relatively small amount of oil that lies beneath the surface of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In a closed-door session of the House GOP leadership in September 2003, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Tenn., said that the battle in Congress to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration is a fight over whether energy exploration will be allowed in similar sensitive area in the future, a statement that surprised even Republicans in the room, according to the Alaska Wilderness League.

“It’s about the precedent,” DeLay told the assembled Republican leaders, while making several references to the “symbolism of ANWR,” according to GOP sources. Several GOP insiders were startled that DeLay contradicted the Bush administration line on the issues. Officials have stressed repeatedly that the battle over ANWR was not symbolic but about the resources that could be tapped there.

Until this meeting, backers of drilling in ANWR had been very careful to wrap themselves in a mantle of national security and energy independence for the United States. While also insisting that any drilling there would be a “footprint” amounting to 2,000 acres in a huge area of more than one million acres.

Thanks to DeLay for letting the cat out of the bag and confirming what some people have been saying for some time.

Jack Biscoe

Turner