A Pennsylvania Republican yesterday offered an amendment to yank language in the House's highway bill that allows oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The proposal would set up the first up-or-down vote on drilling in the 19-million-acre Alaskan reserve in roughly five years.

The proposal by Rep. Jim Gerlach, a Pennsylvania moderate who has voted against proposals to drill in the refuge in the past, would strip the largest revenue-generator of the three energy bills that are included in House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) H.R. 7, a key funding element of the transportation package.

The other energy proposals would vastly expand offshore drilling and revive a scrapped George W. Bush administration plan to promote oil shale development in the West.

Gerlach's amendment follows a letter last week from six other moderate House Republicans raising concerns over using Arctic drilling to shore up the Highway Trust Fund, which has traditionally relied on gas taxes.

The House Rules Committee meets tonight to decide whether to adopt an open amendment process for the highway package when it hits the floor later this week. Hundreds of amendments have already been offered to the bill (see related story).

If Gerlach's bill makes it to the floor, it would mark the first time that the House has voted on whether to allow oil and gas in the refuge since 2007, when a procedural motion to open the area to drilling was rejected with the help of more than a dozen current House Republicans, including Gerlach. The House a year later rejected a motion to adjust budget levels to assume future revenues from opening ANWR to development.

Gerlach's amendment would offset the lost ANWR revenues by reducing funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund. It also states that "Congress will not authorize the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources in ANWR until all petroleum reserves of the Outer Continental Shelf and National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska have been exhausted."

"The bigger picture is it shows there are moderates from both parties who once again want to protect our national wildlife refuge," said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League.

A separate amendment by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) would require the Interior secretary "to conduct an economic impact survey to determine the economic effects that lease sales within 100 miles of the coast of Florida will have on the Florida fishing and tourism industries."

Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) offered an amendment similar to what he proposed in the Natural Resources Committee that would allow New Jersey to opt out of drilling and lease sales off its coast if state residents disapprove it via a referendum vote. Runyan was one of only three Republicans in the committee to vote against the offshore drilling proposal at a markup last month.

Renewable energy bills

House Republicans also hope to add language to the highway bill to accelerate renewable wind, solar and geothermal energy development on public lands and waters by offering amendments similar to bills that were introduced last June (E&ENews PM, June 14, 2011).

The amendments were filed by Republican Reps. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Raul Labrador of Idaho, Rob Wittman of Virginia and Doc Hastings of Washington.

Wittman's amendment, which resembles H.R. 2173, would give the Interior Department one month to act on permits to build temporary wind gauge structures in the Atlantic Ocean if they disturb only a small amount of water.

Noem's amendment appears to require a similar process for Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.

Labrador's amendment would minimize environmental requirements for a geothermal exploration test project so it can quickly move forward if resources are found. Current law requires lengthy well-by-well reviews that discourage energy companies from investing in risky projects, Labrador has said.

Hastings' amendment would limit alternatives to be considered in the permitting of renewable energy projects.