- Having been thwarted repeatedly in its effort to open
Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling for oil, the
Bush Administration and its Congressional leadership have come up with
a plan for a sneak attack on the issue.
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- Rather than holding a straightforward vote on the Senate
floor, where strong public opposition halted drilling in the past few years,
House and Senate members are quietly planning instead to attach the drilling
measure to upcoming budget legislation, where it would be all but impossible
to stop (budget bills are exempt from filibuster or extended debate).
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- This past Tuesday, SaveOurEnvironment.org, a national
coalition for the environment, said the planned maneuver demonstrates that
"proponents of drilling know they cannot pass this through the normal
legislative process, so they are resorting to a procedural tactic to prohibit
open and honest debate." [1]
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- "Not only does this type of backdoor maneuver endanger
the Arctic Refuge, its wilderness and wildlife, it also poses a genuine
threat to the integrity of our democratic process," said Bill Meadows,
president of the Wilderness Society. The society reported that a recent
bipartisan national survey found Americans oppose drilling in the refuge
by a margin of 53 to 35.
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- The refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain--where drilling
would take place--is described as the "biological heart" of the
refuge by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is home to some 250 animal
species, including caribou, polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen, wolves,
and millions of migratory birds.
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- Despite the fact that it would take up to 10 years for
any ANWR oil to reach the market, the Bush Administration and its allies
depict such drilling as a way to ease America's current energy crisis.
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- At the same time they refuse to consider such immediate
answers as an increase of only one mile-per-gallon in automobile fuel efficiency
standards, an easily attainable goal that would save a half-million barrels
of oil per day.
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- Also shunned are such effective--and painless--steps
as energy efficiency, energy conservation, and greatly increased support
for alternatives such as wind power and solar energy.
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- Environmental and conservation organizations are urging
the public to oppose the use of budget measures to achieve drilling in
ANWR.
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- TAKE ACTION Contact members of Congress through the Wilderness
Society. http://ga1.org/campaign/Arctic
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- SOURCES: [1] SaveOurEnvironment.org Alert, Feb. 22, 2005.
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=13057
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- Copyright © 2003 Environmental Media Services
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- http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000242.php
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