ANWR vote this week!

[Guest guest]

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* WildAlert

* Monday, April 15, 2002

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Dear WildAlert Subscriber,

 

When the Interior Department begins peddling industry propaganda to

the news networks to support oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, as

reported last week, you can bet a decisive moment is near. It is,

after weeks of jockeying, stalling and frantic last-minute deal

shopping. Tomorrow, Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and others will

finally offer their amendment to the Senate Energy Bill, S. 517,

to allow oil development in the incomparable Arctic National

Wildlife Refuge.

 

We've come to you repeatedly for help with the Arctic and you have

responded brilliantly. This is the most important request of all: It

is absolutely vital that your Senators hear from you once more on the

Arctic. Please call your Senators **by Thursday, April 18** and urge

them once more to vote to protect the Arctic Refuge. Use our online

directory to look up phone numbers.

http://tws.ctsg.com/wac/legDirectory

 

BACKGROUND

So fluid is the situation, we can't even tell you yet for sure what

the amendment will contain. We can tell you that the vote on it has

been scheduled for Thursday, and it is likely to include inducements

to make it tough for our friends to stay strong on the Arctic. For

example:

 

--Last week, drilling proponents tried to couple Arctic drilling with

relief for ailing steel-industry retirement funds; they may try that

again.

 

--They may also offer to reduce the area in which drilling will be

allowed, from the entire 1.5 million-acre refuge to some smaller part

of it.

 

And there are likely to be schemes proposed that we haven't even

thought of yet; proponents are that desperate.

 

This much is certain: Whatever the final shape of the amendment, if it

wins, the Arctic loses, along with its wild character, its wildlife

and the Gwich'in people for whom the refuge is life itself.

 

TAKE ACTION

Please call your Senators and ask them to vote to protect the Arctic

Refuge. Use our online directory to look up your Senators' phone

numbers. http://tws.ctsg.com/wac/legDirectory

 

Here are some points you may want to make during your call:

 

--You're calling about S. 517, the Senate Energy bill. You urge the

Senator to oppose any attempt to open the Arctic Refuge to oil

drilling.

 

--The national security argument is bogus. No oil from the Arctic

could reach American markets for at least seven years. The oil

companies themselves say so.

 

--The Administration's estimates of the amount of oil likely to be

found in the Arctic are wildly exaggerated. The Energy Information

Administration puts it into perspective this way: In the year 2020,

when our oil imports will equal 62% of what we consume, Arctic oil

would reduce that amount by just two percent.

 

--Conservation--such as reasonable increases in auto fuel

efficiency--would reduce our dependency far more and far more quickly.

 

--Environmentally safe drilling in the Arctic? Not likely! We've

seen what the industry's done on Alaska's North Slope; if it can drill

and produce oil safely, why hasn't it done so there? The fragile

Arctic is no place to test another empty Big Oil promise.

 

Please call now! And thanks once more for being such a faithful

advocate for the Arctic Wildlife Refuge!