In a recent appearance on The Daily Show, House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi quipped that in the congressional battle over offshore drilling, if the Republicans "want Alaska, we'll give them Alaska."

Too late. Even if she's as good as her word, she'll find there's not much left to give.

In 2004, Congress quietly lifted the moratorium on oil drilling in the ecologically sensitive Northern Aleutian Basin. On Aug. 1, the U.S. Interior Department's Mineral Management Service completed the first major step toward selling the leasing rights to oil and gas drilling companies by publishing a notice in the Federal Register calling for public comments.