Arctic Refuge needs calls

03/11/2005

I am sure many of you know this and many of you have already taken action on this, but for those of you that haven’t This is a wake up call.  We need to to it NOW.  If Senator Coleman isn’t your Senator, please take the time to find out who your senator is and contact him or her.  This is really important.

You have the ability to impact whether the Senate succeeds in a sneaky attempt to include a provision in their budget bill that would allow oil companies to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Proponents of drilling are using the budget process as a vehicle for this controversial proposal, because they know they cannot win if they bring free-standing legislation to the floor. The Senate will vote as soon as next week on the Cantwell amendment to remove the Arctic provision from the Senate Budget Resolution.  Senator Coleman could be the deciding vote.  Please take action today to urge Senator Coleman to vote YES on the Cantwell Amendment.

What you can do:

1. Call the Arctic Action Hotline to help save the Arctic Refuge!  Call 1-888-8-WILD-AK! (1-888-894-5325)

2. Send an email using our sample message or your own words (the link follows)

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Senator Norm Coleman (if you live in MN)

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Save the Arctic Wildlife Refuge

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As a resident of Minnesota I urge you to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by voting for the Cantwell amendment to remove Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling provisions currently contained in the Senate Budget Resolution.

It does not make sense to include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the federal budget. Not only does the law currently forbid it, the amount of oil that may be found there is still unknown, and oil companies themselves are losing interest. The President’s budget assumes an exaggerated $2.4 billion windfall from the sale of drilling leases to these uninterested parties. To arrive at this figure, drilling leases would have to be sold for between $4000 and $6000 per acre, while such leases have averaged $50 per acre, historically. Gambling with the federal budget on such farfetched figures is simply unwise.

There are some places that should be off-limits to oil drilling and industrial development, and the Arctic Refuge is one of them. It is the only currently protected and intact Arctic ecosystem within our nation’s borders. The harm to habitat for polar bear, caribou, and millions of migratory birds would be permanent and irreparable. We have a profound responsibility to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and wild places like it for this generation and those to come.

The decision on whether to allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge is too important to be hidden in the budget process. I urge you not to be the one Senator who could have done something to prevent destruction of America’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and chose not to. Please vote for the Cantwell Amendment.

Sincerely,

-Mary Petersson
Take Action!