Moderate Republicans balk at refuge drilling

Article in the Houston Chronicle indicates the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may be safe, because enough House Republicans are against drilling in it.

The gist:

In a letter delivered to the House leadership on Tuesday, 25 GOP lawmakers requested that the refuge drilling approval be removed from the budget bill that is designed to help defray the costs of hurricane relief.

...

House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., conceded Tuesday that the budget measure would fail if all the GOP lawmakers who opposed drilling vote against it.

Don't know how much more insight I can add to that, whether speculation on Bush's power swirling the drain, ANWR becoming a third rail in politics, etc, so I'll just say this is a welcome development.