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Alaska Refuge Battle Isn't Over Yet
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Progressive Portal
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Mar 27, 2005 14:44 PST
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BUDGET RECONCILIATION COULD STILL KILL DRILLING DECISION;
BOXER CALLS ON PUBLIC TO THREATEN BOYCOTT IF COMPANIES DRILL
[From the League of Conservation Voters <http://www.lcv.org> and Sen.
Barbara Boxer <http://www.senate.gov/~boxer/>]
The struggle to save the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is far from
over, despite a painful defeat on 16 Mar 2005, when the Senate narrowly
approved a budget resolution authorizing oil drilling in the pristine
wilderness. The authorization won't become law unless it's included in
the final version of a bill passed by both houses of Congress, and
considering the substantial differences between the House and Senate
versions, there's a good chance they won't ever agree. (Both houses must
ultimately agree on spending authorizations and appropriations, of
course, but the bill approved last week is only a preliminary framework
for subsequent legislation, and there's no legal requirement that the
houses pass a final bill. They failed to do so last year.)
If House and Senate conferees manage to produce a reconciled version,
that bill will have to come back before the Senate after it reconvenes
on 4 Apr 2005. Given the closeness of the vote on 16 Mar - when an
amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell to remove the ANWR drilling
authorization lost by just 49-51 - winning over the one or two votes
needed to change the outcome is not at all inconceivable, if we keep the
pressure on our Senators, whichever way they voted on the Cantwell
amendment.
CONTINUED BELOW ...
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You can find out how your Senators voted at <http://tinyurl.com/47t5e>
or through a convenient map interface at <http://tinyurl.com/5ssnj>.
Write to express your appreciation or disappointment, and to remind your
Senators that you'll be watching their future votes on this issue.
Meanwhile, there's another promising front in the struggle: pressing the
oil companies to stay out of ANWR. Already the two largest oil companies
most active on Alaska's North Slope - BP and ConocoPhillips - have
dropped out of Arctic Power, a lobbying group dedicated to opening ANWR
for drilling, and largely because of pressure from stockholders and
consumers, other major companies have lost much of their initial
enthusiasm for the project. Now Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has initiated
a campaign asking the chief executive officers of all five of the
largest oil companies to pledge that their companies won't drill in ANWR
- and threatening a consumer boycott if they do.
Take Action
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1. Send messages to chide or thank your Senators for their votes at:
http://capwiz.com/lcv/issues/alert/?alertid=7233336&type=CO
(Site will automatically produce appropriate letters to your Senators
based on which way they voted)
2. Ask the CEOs of the major oil companies to pledge not to drill in
ANWR at:
http://ga4.org/campaign/boycott
More Information
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ConocoPhillips follows BP in dropping out of pro-drilling lobby:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2005/2005-01-06-09.asp#anchor4
http://uspirg.org/uspirgnewsroom.asp?id2=15309&id3=USPIRGnewsroom&
http://www.earthjustice.org/policy/rider/display.html?ID=45
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1281&issue_id=24
Information from and about the Gwich'in natives of the Arctic refuge:
http://www.alaska.net/~gwichin/index2.html
Florida senator may switch sides and kill Alaska refuge oil drilling:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/03/ANWR_Martinez.html
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