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Block Sneak Attack on Arctic Refuge
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Progressive Portal
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Feb 24, 2005 18:25 PST
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PROPONENTS OF DRILLING IN ANWR MANEUVERING TO SLIP
THEIR PLAN INTO A MUST-PASS, NO-FILIBUSTER BUDGET BILL
[From SaveOurEnvironment.org <http://www.saveourenvironment.org> and the
Audubon Society <http://www.audubon.org>]
While friends of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)are trying to
give the pristine wilderness permanent protection from development,
George Bush and his fellow pro-petroleum partisans in Congress are
apparently planning to resort to procedural trickery to get their
controversial drilling plan adopted despite widespread public and
Senatorial opposition.
The drilling proponents' plan, according to Capitol Hill watchers, is to
insert language permitting drilling in the refuge into a federal budget
bill during backroom drafting in the next few weeks. If they succeed,
defeating their plan will be extra difficult, because budget bills are
among the few kinds of legislation exempt from filibuster or extended
debate in the Senate.
This anti-democratic maneuver reveals the fundamental weakness of the
drilling proponents: They know they cannot get their cause adopted
through the normal legislative process, so they are resorting to a
tactic that would prevent an open and honest debate.
Meanwhile, a bi-partisan group of Senators and Representatives has
introduced legislation that would nullify such maneuvers, now and
forever, by providing permanent protection for ANWR. The bill (S. 261 in
the Senate and H.R. 567 in the House) is known as the "Udall-Eisenhower
Wilderness Act," after former Democratic Rep. Morris Udall, who in 1980
led the Congress in doubling the size of the Refuge and protecting the
wilderness from drilling, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in
1960 set aside the core of what is now the refuge.
Covering more than 20 million acres, and free - for now - of roads,
lodging, and even campsites, ANWR teems with wildlife, including more
than 160 bird species, 36 kinds of land mammals, nine marine mammal
species and 36 types of fish. It's an important breeding ground and
habitat for caribou, polar bears and other animals.
Opening this pristine wilderness to dirty development will do little to
solve America's energy problems. Oil from the area wouldn't begin to
flow to market for at least ten years after drilling were to begin. ANWR
oil would increase world oil reserves by only about 0.3 percent. The
total amount that could be recovered economically from the refuge over a
50-year span - approximately 5.3 billion barrels - amounts to less than
nine months' supply for the United States, at current consumption rates.
Even the oil industry feels ANWR is an uneconomical place to drill, and
has stopped pushing for access to the Alaska wilderness.
So what's the big rush to drill in ANWR? Pro-drilling strategists feel
that breaking the ANWR drilling taboo is crucial to their real objective
- resuming offshore oil drilling along the Florida and California
coastlines, according to a New York Times investigation (see
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21refuge.html> - free
registration required).
Tell your Senators and Representative to support the Udall-Eisenhower
Wilderness Act and to stand firm against any attempt to sneak
pro-drilling provisions into federal budget legislation.
Take Action
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1. Send a message to your legislators urging them to keep the Alaska
oil-drilling plan out of budget legislation at:
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=13057
2. Urge your legislators to support Udall-Eisenhower Wilderness Act at:
http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/summary.asp?subject=354
More Information
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ANWR updates:
http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/news.html
Background information, fact sheets, slideshow, video, and other
materials on ANWR from the Natural Resources Defense Council:
http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic.asp
Maps and other resources from Defenders of Wildlife:
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/arctic/overview.html
Sierra Club resources:
http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/arctic
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