Rape the Earth bill passes

Today the Senate, by a bare majority of 51-49, shamed themselves by voting to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Actually they didn't vote to do it; they voted against stripping it out of the President's budget, a cowardly way of ducking a cloture vote which surely would have failed. This is a major issue that somehow got stuck into the budget, limiting debate and requiring only 51 votes, which is exactly what it got. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska threatened to retire if drilling in ANWR was defeated; now we don't even get to see that happen.

Lorax at Daily Kos has a diary up with action items for next steps. This is not completely over, but it's on severe life support. The NRDC and the Sierra Club need to really rally around this issue to make sure we aren't destroying our precious resources. Check out lorax' agenda.

And of course, this is another issue for us to keep alive in 2006. America should not be for sale to oil interests.