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Call Now to Save the Arctic!
Oil companies and their friends in Congress continue to try to use the Budget Process to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. They have attached a drilling provision to the massive 2006 Budget Reconciliation package in an effort to limit public debate and circumvent normal congressional procedure. The Senate narrowly passed its budget November 3 with drilling intact, but the House has run into trouble trying to muscle through its budget with drilling.
In fact, a group of more than two dozen moderate Republicans have objected to using the budget to advance Arctic drilling, and because of their efforts, the House leadership has agreed to strip out both the Arctic and the OCS drilling provisions. But the budget process isn't done, and each body will have to vote on a final package sometime in December.
The most important thing to do RIGHT NOW to help save the Arctic Refuge is to call your Senators and Representatives. Urge them to vote against any budget reconciliation bill that allows oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
Call them at the Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
Or call toll-free with the Arctic Action Hotline: 1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894-5325)
Want to do more? Call your Senator's in-district office and leave a message there as well. Only through action can we ensure the safe future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and America's other special wild places!
Some key points to remind your elected representatives:
Please vote against any budget reconciliation budget that allows oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would spoil this last great wilderness for a speculative amount of oil which would have little effect on high gas prices. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy recently estimated that if we drilled for oil in the Refuge tomorrow, it would lower gas prices by roughly a penny per gallon...in 20 years.
Drilling in the Arctic has nothing to do with the budget nor with generating revenues for America. The figures put forward in the reconciliation package are highly speculative at best. Both the House and Senate assume $2.4 billion in revenues from Arctic drilling, a number that is inflated to 80 times the going rate for oil leases in the region. If they really cared about high prices, they would be looking into why oil companies are raking in record profits in the wake of the recent hurricanes.
The issue of oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge is too important to the American public and future generations to be snuck through in the budget bill in an attempt to circumvent the established process. It should be fully debated and brought to a vote on its own merits.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would not put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil, would do nothing to strengthen our national security, and would not save consumers a dime at the pump. But the harm to wildlife and this spectacular wilderness would be permanent and irreparable.
Americans deserve a cheaper, quicker, safer and cleaner energy policy that safeguards the wild places we care so deeply about. We cannot drill our way to energy independence, but we can embrace responsible measures and real, 21st Century energy solutions that make cars go farther on a gallon of gas, promote conservation, invest in clean renewable energy, and protect our natural heritage.
By simply increasing fuel efficiency standards for our cars to an average of 40 miles per gallon we could save more oil than we currently import from the Persian Gulf or could ever extract from the Arctic Refuge, combined.
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