The U.S. House once again passed a bill to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, voting 237-187 Thursday on a measure expected to die in the Senate.

"This is my 12th time passing ANWR out of the House and although this is a momentous day, there is still work to be done," said U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. He said the Senate should get moving.

The legislation, which contains other controversial drilling and pipeline provisions, faces much bigger obstacles in the Senate and with President Obama, said Alaska's senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Mark Begich.

Still, the senators take solace in the House vote and say it gives them a new opportunity to open ANWR's coastal plain to drilling with twists designed to make the idea palatable to reluctant Democrats.

"I think I've got the votes in the Energy Committee on ANWR," said Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

But that "doesn't get it to the floor," Murkowski said, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "is bound and determined that he is not going to pass the measure."

It's essential for Alaskans to educate members of Congress on ANWR, especially new ones who haven't yet become entrenched, both Murkowski and Begich said. Long-timers aren't eager to restart the old battle.

"When you say the word 'ANWR,' there are some members who literally get hives," Begich said.

Backers of drilling stress that only a portion of the refuge would be developed -- the bill requires the Interior Department to put up at least 200,000 acres for lease and no less than another 200,000 if there's interest by industry, totally roughly 3 percent of the refuge. And some development could be done with extended horizontal drilling from state lands, a proposal in a different bill sponsored by Murkowski and co-sponsored by Begich.

The House bill, H.R. 3408, passed with 21 Democrats supporting it and 21 Republicans opposed. Republicans touted it as a way to use lease revenues to pay for the expensive transportation bill expected to come to the floor of the House next week.

In addition to ANWR drilling, the bill would also open offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific and force the approval of TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas. All those provisions have strong opposition among the Democrats who control the Senate.

The 1.5-million-acre coastal plain of the refuge, believed to contain massive reserves of oil, has been off limits to development since the compromise that led to the 1980 passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. From that day, Alaskans of both parties have been trying to open the plain and environmentalists and their allies have been trying to get permanent protection for it as designated wilderness.

Neither side has succeeded, so the coastal plain remains in a legislative limbo, neither opened nor locked.

The latest effort emerged as a House energy strategy filled with Republican talking points: cheaper energy, more revenue. Democrats countered with: unbridled development, environmental risks.

Begich said he plans to analyze the House votes, especially those of the Republicans who voted "no" and the Democrats who voted "yes." The offshore drilling aspect, unpopular in Florida's coastal communities, may have led its representatives to vote "no."