美國眾議院25日通過了極地野保區（Arctic National Wildlife Refuge，ANWR）石油開採的法案，但即便支持者都了解，這個表決結果的象徵意義大於實質面。過去幾次參議院均反對保護區的開發，因此，這項法案未來勢必面臨更大的阻礙──這已是眾議院第五次通過該項法案。
支持開發一派表示，面對高油價以及美國對外國油源依賴持續升高，沒有理由反對ANWR鑽油計畫，一般相信此區蘊含100億桶原油。
美國國會資源委員會主席彭博（Richard Pombo）表示，反對者希望美國戒絕原油需求的訴求，非常不實際，同時他們也忽略國內原油供應需求增加的好處。
紐約州眾議員波勒（Sherwood Boehler）是少數反對此法案的共和黨籍議員，他向其他議員喊話：我們不僅應該反對，更應該「對此案感到羞愧。」波勒批評國會，「在原油漲到一加侖3美元之後完全沒有表決任何一件保育方案……即使一項又一項的民意調查顯示保育方案較投美國人民所好。」波勒又說：「是不是有任何更明顯的證據顯示，如布希總統所言，我們對原油需求上癮了？也許我們已經忘記委任我們的是人民，而非企業。」
加州民主黨國會議員蓋普斯（Lois Capps）表示，蘊藏在保護區地層下的原油根本不值可能傷害一個遠在阿拉斯加州東北角角落的純淨、生物多樣化的野生動物保護區的代價。蓋普斯表示：「其實有些地方就是應該禁止鑽油，而ANWR就是其中一個地方。我們有道德責任要為未來的世代子孫拯救像北極保護區這樣的自然野生區域。」
ANWR是在1960年由共和黨籍總統艾森豪所設立的保護區，目前棲息超過100種野生動物和鳥類，包括北美馴鹿、北極熊、狼群、灰棕熊、麝香牛，以及北極狐狸。
眾議員馬凱（Ed Markey）表示，要從保護區取得任何原油得花上好幾年時間，他引用美國能源資訊局資料，預測即使是在北極國家野生動物保護區產油量的高峰期，在2025年為止，該區也只能降低3%對原油的仰賴，同時只能影響每加侖原油油價約一美分而已。
The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation to allow oil drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but even proponents acknowledge the vote was largely symbolic. The measure faces an uphill battle in the Senate, which has in the past blocked standalone legislation to open the refuge. It is the fifth time the House has passed legislation to open the refuge.
Supporters said high gasoline prices and the nation's rising dependence on foreign sources of oil are justification for drilling in ANWR, which is believed to hold as much as 10 billion barrels of oil.
House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo said opponents are unrealistic about the nation’s ability to wean itself off oil and ignore the merits of increased domestic supply.
One of the few Republicans to speak against the bill, New York Representative Sherwood Boehlert, told colleagues they should not just oppose the bill, but "ought to be ashamed of it." Boehlert criticized the Congress for not voting on "a single conservation measure since gasoline hit $3.00 a gallon … even though poll after poll has shown that conservation measures are the preferred options of the American people."
"Is there any greater evidence that we are, as President Bush has said, addicted to oil?" Boehlert added. "Perhaps we have forgotten that our constituents are people, not companies."
The oil beneath the refuge is not worth the potential harm to a pristine, biologically diverse wilderness tucked far in the northeast corner of Alaska, said Representative Lois Capps, a California Democrat.
"There are simply some places which should be off limits to drilling and the Arctic Refuge should be one of them," said Capps. "We have a moral responsibility to save wild places like the Arctic Refuge for future generations."
Created in 1960 by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, the refuge is inhabited by more than 100 species of wildlife and birds, including caribou, polar bears, wolves, grizzly bears, musk oxen, and arctic foxes.
It would take years to get any oil out of the refuge, added Representative Ed Markey, who cited U.S. Energy Information Agency estimates that even at its peak ANWR oil may reduce oil dependence by three percent and affect gasoline prices by only about a penny per gallon by 2025.
