Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, sporting an Incredible Hulk tie meets with reporters on Capitol Hill Tueday, Dec. 20, 2005. Stevens occasionally dons the tie given to him when he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee and controlled the government's purse strings. Removed from that job by Republican rules on term limits, the 82-year old Alaskan who is third in the line of succession to the presidency is threatening to hold lawmakers in Washington until the eve of Christmas and Hanukkah. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR, which sprawls along Alaska's northern coast and may hold 10 billion barrels of oil, has been the focus of bitter wrangling in Congress for more than two decades.

Most Senate Democrats and some moderate Republicans say the frigid wilderness and its assortment of wildlife, ranging from polar bears to peregrine falcons, should be protected. Republicans contend the refuge must be opened to drilling to stop a steady slide in U.S. crude-oil production.

Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska attached the measure to a $453 billion defense-spending bill that pays for U.S. troops and Pentagon weapons programs in the coming year. Furious Democrats threatened to block the measure with a filibuster, saying the ANWR measure has no connection to military spending and violates Senate rules.

With Congress moving to wrap up its work for the year, both Democrats and Republicans said the situation was fluid with some senators still undecided on whether to support a filibuster that would effectively talk the bill to death.

Republicans have to muster 60 votes to stop a filibuster. They hold 55 seats in the Senate while Democrats have 44 seats. There is one independent.

"I think it will be a very close vote," said Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "This is going to be a hard day."

Stevens, who has fought since the 1980s to pry open the refuge, gave mixed signals. Initially he said he would drop ANWR from the bill if Democrats successfully filibustered it, but later said he would force the entire bill to be renegotiated.

"I'm hopeful I'll have them," Stevens said, when asked by reporters if he had the votes to end a filibuster. "I've been at this for 25 years. This is the closest I've ever come."

In anticipation of a tight vote on the defense bill and a separate budget-cutting bill, Vice President Dick Cheney cut short a trip to the Middle East to return to Washington. In his role as Senate president, Cheney could break any tie.

Democrats expressed concern about whether Christopher Dodd of Connecticut could get to Capitol Hill to cast a vote. Dodd, a drilling opponent, is recovering from major surgery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages ANWR, describes it as "one of the finest examples of wilderness left on the planet." The refuge is the same size as South Carolina, with most of its land accessible only by plane or boat.

Oil companies say exploration and drilling could be limited to a small area and would not harm the wildlife.

For a half-dozen Republicans who have long opposed ANWR drilling, the defense bill represents a difficult choice. Few politicians want to be seen rejecting a defense bill that pays the salaries of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe said they had not decided whether to join the Democrats' filibuster. "ANWR does not belong in this bill," Collins said.

Democrats said they would also seek a parliamentary ruling that the ANWR measure was not germane to the bill. They would need 51 votes to win a vote on such a motion.

Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon said he would support a motion to drop ANWR language but would not join a filibuster.

"I will vote for the bullets," Smith said. "I feel duty-bound to make sure our troops have the means to defend themselves when they're in harm's way."

The defense bill also includes funding for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction, the bird flu pandemic and a program that helps poor families pay winter heating bills.

The House of Representatives approved the defense bill on Monday.

© Reuters 2005

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