A House committee endorsed the White House plan last week to drill for oil in an Arctic wildlife refuge. The approval sets the stage for a battle over President George W. Bush's energy plan on the House floor.

The House Resources Committee voted 29-19 to kill a Democrat amendment to ban exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Five Democrats joined 24 Republicans in defeating the ban.

The oil-drilling provision is now expected to move to the full House as part of a larger energy package. The provision faces the possibility of renewed opposition there and in the Senate, where many Democrats and moderate Republicans oppose opening the refuge for oil exploration and have expressed resistance to expanded oil drilling on other federal lands.

The House bill calls for lifting a congressional ban on drilling in the Arctic refuge's 1.5 million acre coastal plain where as much as 16 billion barrels of oil is believed to be located. Oil companies for years have coveted the refuge while environmentalists consider its protection to be their top priority.

Pro-drilling lawmakers called the oil beneath the refuge's coastal plain essential to meeting U.S. needs and reducing the nation's reliance on foreign oil. Bush has argued the oil there can be developed while still protecting the environment.