Speaking at an afternoon press conference, Johnson said the effects of drilling in Prudhoe Bay have left a “ a footprint” larger than the state of Rhode Island, an oil spill every day, a network of roads across the entire area to move workers and oil and 55 “waste-contaminated sites.”
Markey made an emotional appeal, comparing the refuge to the more generally accessible Yellowstone National Park and to the historic battlefield at Lexington Green, Mass.

Republicans who favor drilling say that tapping into Alaskan oil reserves is necessary to resolve the United States’ current energy crisis, and that it is possible to drill without devastating the environment.

“It’s an area that absolutely needs to be protected,” said Doug Heye, spokesman for the House Committee on Resources, adding that Markey and Johnson were presenting Americans with a “false choice” by equating extraction of natural resources with devastation.

Proponents of drilling in the refuge criticized Markey for not attending a committee field hearing on the drilling issue held last weekend in Kaktovik, Alaska. Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., dispatched an aide to Markey’s news conference to pass out photographs showing Markey’s empty chair at the field hearing.

“Had he decided to show up to the hearing he requested,” Pombo said, “ he would have heard that the people of Alaska’s north slope overwhelmingly support responsible exploration.”

Markey explained he was unable to make the hearing because he was busy gathering support for the upcoming vote, which he called “the number one environmental vote of they year.” He also implied that the meeting in Alaska was at best a formality. Since the committee had already approved the language in the bill that allowed drilling, Markey said, “they were going up there to see where the drills were to be placed.”

Pombo and Heye have said that oil is only one part of a balanced energy strategy that also relied on wind, water, solar and other alternative energy sources.

An attempt to stop drilling in the refuge failed in 2001, but Markey and Johnson said they were hopeful about Thursday’s vote.
“I think our odds are better than last year,” Johnson said.

“Things went very well in the Senate,” said Markey. “ We have a feeling things will go very well in the House as well.” He added that if both houses pass amendments to prevent drilling, it would “end this debate permanently.”

If the amendment fails in the house, it will have to be reconciled with the Senate energy bill, which does not allow for drilling. Senate Energy and Natural Resources