Just as the war was starting in Iraq, President Bush lost a different kind of battle in the senate as his plans for drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska were defeated.

But supporters of the drilling plans were yesterday warning that this battle was far from over, and they would be returning with new plans.

By a vote of 52 to 48, the senate rejected President Bush's plan to open the refuge for drilling. Eight Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent to remove the drilling clause from a budget vote on Wednesday night. The outcome of the vote had been in doubt until the final moment.

The president believed the war in Iraq and the uncertain situation in Venezuela would convince waverers that the domestic oil supply should be expanded.

He has been opposed by environmental groups which warned that it would cause ecological damage to the area. The local Native American people, the Gwich'in, have also opposed the drilling and were present for the vote in Washington this week.

The vote in effect kills off drilling in the area for the year, conceded the chairman of the Senate energy committee, Pete Domenici, who had backed the plan. But its supporters believe a petrol-price hike due to the war in the Gulf would put senators under renewed pressure from their constituents.

The failure of last-minute attempts by vice president Dick Cheney to sway Republican senators who were opposed to drilling on the eve of war was significant. The White House criticized the senate vote, saying it was "unfortunate that the senate missed an opportunity to increase our energy independence at a time when that's critically important".

The California senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, was the most vocal opponent to the plan. She produced photos of the wilderness area where drilling would have taken place, showing caribou and polar bears. "Cast your eyes on this," said Ms Boxer. "One cannot paint anything quite as magnificent as what God has created."

Ms Boxer argued that the government should be concentrating instead on fuel economy measures. "We can do more for our troops if we just increase fuel economy," she said.

Senator Ted Stevens, a Republican from Alaska who has been a main supporter of drilling, attended the debate wearing an Incredible Hulk tie. Mr Stevens, who argued that drilling would bring much-needed employment to the state, said afterwards: "There will be another vote, another day."

Mr Stevens had argued that it would have been possible to have extracted oil with a minimum of ecological damage. He said that the issue had been taken over by "extreme environmental organizations" who had spread "propaganda". He told Californians that when their petrol prices went up, they should call Ms Boxer.

Supporters of the drilling mocked the photos produced by Ms Boxer, saying that the area concerned was just a frozen wasteland.

The other Alaska senator, Lisa Murkowski, also a Republican, attacked the opponents of the plan, saying: "The rest of the country would just as soon lock us up and say, 'nothing, nada, zip, you cannot do anything.'"

The US uses around 7bn barrels of oil a year, and the government had estimated that as many as 16bn barrels could have been found in Alaska. Opponents suggested that only around 3bn could have been recovered without causing major damage.

The Bush plan would have allowed for drilling over 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of the 8m-hectare (20m-acre) refuge.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

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