Alaskan oil is no solution: Quickest and biggest payoff is to stress conservation.(Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service)

The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday, Jan. 31:

X X X

President Bush has called on Republicans and Democrats in Congress to show bipartisan spirit and pass an energy act that will put the nation on the path to energy independence.

They would find that a lot easier to do if Bush backed off his insistence on drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

ANWR has become a lightning rod. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has vowed to filibuster if drilling in the refuge is in the final energy bill. Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican, has promised to filibuster if it isn't.

...