WASHINGTON – The pristine natural beauty and unique wildlife of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are facing a renewed attack from oil industry allies in Congress. Some members of Congress are trying to exploit the aftermath of hurricane Katrina to push their plans to drill America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through the federal budget process. In the next few weeks both the House and Senate are expected to finalize their versions of the budget reconciliation bill, which could contain provisions to open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.
"The desperate campaign by these politicians to paint Arctic Refuge drilling as the answer to rising energy costs is cynical and misleading,” said William Meadows, President of The Wilderness Society. “Opening the Arctic Refuge will destroy one of our last remaining wild places and do nothing to solve America’s energy problems. That’s why I’m encouraging all Americans to visit www.wilderness.org/arctic and send a message urging their members of Congress to vote against any bill that includes provisions for oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.”
As gas prices skyrocket in the wake of recent natural disasters, drilling boosters in Congress site rising costs of energy as a reason to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. In fact a recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) concluded that even when oil production in the Arctic Refuge is at its peak in 2025, the gas prices would be affected by only one penny per gallon. At peak production twenty years from now, oil from the Arctic Refuge would make up only 0.8% of the world’s oil production, and only 3% of America’s oil supply.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to over 250 unique animal species, including polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen, wolves, and millions of migratory birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called the refuge’s 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain – where oil drilling is proposed – the “biological heart” of the refuge. Oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge would bring roads, pipelines, processing plants, and other industrial facilities which would destroy critical habitats for wildlife and forever alter this unique landscape.
“Oil prices are set on the world market and oil from the Arctic Refuge would amount to just a drop in the bucket," Meadows said. "Such a small increase in the production of oil in the United States would have little or no impact on the cost of oil, but a huge impact on the landscape of the Arctic Refuge and the wildlife that call it home."
The Wilderness Society has launched a special online action center at http://www.wilderness.org/arctic. Visitors can send a message to their members of Congress urging them to vote against any bill that includes provisions for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and find out about other things they can do protect the Arctic Refuge.
###
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
