US and European Politics Turning Green

It is the start of a new year in US politics, and environment looks to be top of the agenda for the new Congress.

Two bills were introduced in Congress on Friday 5 December, one proposing to enforce a ban on drilling in a contested Alaskan wildlife reserve, the other calling for numerous energy-efficiency measures. The initiatives are poised to be mirrored in spirit on the other side of the Atlantic: the European Commission will reveal its new energy policy on Wednesday.

In the US, whether or not to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge of Northeast Alaska has been a cause of contention since the 1980s. In his 2000 election campaign, President George W Bush backed drilling in the refuge. The area is believed to hold 10.5 billion barrels of oil, and advocates have argued that drilling here could reduce US dependence on foreign oil.

Before that happens, however, Congress must approve any drilling. The US House of Representatives has approved drilling about a dozen times, only to have their plans scuppered in the Senate.

Edward Markey, democrat representative for the state of Massachusetts, is the main proponent of last Friday's Alaska drilling ban bill, which he has proposed several times in the past. He believes that the new Democrat-dominated Congress could spell a new beginning for the Alaskan reserve.