Photo courtesy of the National Sierra Club.

By a decisive 41-57 vote, on March 13 the US Senate defeated an effort to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The vote came on an amendment to the Transportation Bill offered by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) and received the support of Sen. Toomey but not Sen. Casey. The ‘Drill-Baby-Drill” amendment also included a second attempt to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and required the Interior Department to lease Atlantic and Pacific coastal areas for off-shore drilling, including the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, offshore Virginia and Alaska’s Bristol Bay.