Letter to the editor: For Herrera Beutler, it’s only ‘not in my backyard’ on drilling

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In the weeks to come, they’ll start shampooing the orange-stain from the White House carpets and usher in some compassion and sanity. 

Now would be a good time for Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler to take notice of the surroundings and consider the other half of her constituency. 

Don’t know if you’ll recall, but buried in the depths of 2017 tax cut legislation was a stipulation that allowed energy development, namely oil and gas exploration, in the pristine coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Alaska’s north slope. 

Well, ole Jaime certainly voted for the tax cut and maybe didn’t notice the ANWR component. 

Fast forward to 2019, when HR 1146 was presented. 



It proposed a drilling ban in the ANWR, and Jaime opposed it, so she must have known all along it was in the tax bill. 

Now, when it came to oil and gas exploration in her own backyard, she voted in favor of HR 1941 which prohibited awarding leases of oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. The message she sends speaks of her character. 

She’s all in for more fossil fuel development in spite of the climate crisis and warmest years on record. Sound hypocritical?

Trump’s out the door, but before he leaves, he’s scrambling to jam through an ANWR lease sale as a sort of grand finale giveaway to the extraction industries. The sale begins Jan. 6. Thanks Jaime.