WASHINGTON -- March 22 -- Green Party leaders urged members of Congress who oppose oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to do everything
possible to stop enactment of the recent vote to allow drilling.

Greens also called on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to oppose all new drilling, and to focus on conversion from fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources to solar, wind, and other safe and clean energy. The U.S. is the world's largest energy consumer and lags far behind other nations on fuel economy and conservation and implementation of renewable energy.

"Like 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, many Democrats who voted against drilling in the ANWR support increased drilling in other pristine public lands in Alaska and elsewhere in North America, and favor construction of new pipelines through Canada to the U.S.," said Maya O'Connor, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "Drilling for oil in the ANWR is only part of the problem. The real crisis is our addiction to fossil fuels."

Green Party members noted that new drilling not only threatened local lands and wildlife in Alaska, but also risked accelerating the advance of catastrophic global climate change.

"At a time when we're facing global warming and the approach of a peak in oil production, both of which threaten security and the world economy, it is extremely shortsighted and dangerous to expand drilling operations," said Greg Gerritt, secretary of the Green Party of the United States. "The White House and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are in the thrall of corporate energy lobbies, and their deference to corporate profits is endangering the entire planet."

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