This came today on the newsletter editors' listserve.  Since our next
newsletter won't be out for a few months, e-mail is the best way to
distribute this.
Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IS A TREASURE TO PRESERVE
By SARA CALLAGHAN CHAPELL - Sierra Club Alaska Staff

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an amazing and inspiring place.
Visitors tell of its stunning vistas, unique wildlife and untouched
landscape. Scientists note the importance of the refuge as habitat for
hundreds of species and the crucial role it plays in Alaska's web of life.

The Gwich'in -- native Alaskans who live nearby -- depend on the caribou
that give birth in the refuge for food, clothing and spiritual sustenance.
And the refuge is also an important part of America's heritage. But despite
the value of the arctic refuge -- to people, wildlife and posterity --
President Bush has announced that he intends to open the area to oil
drilling.

Doing so would be an unconscionable mistake: Just as we would not flood the
Grand Canyon for hydropower or cap Old Faithful for steam, we must not
drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The first reason is the simplest: There's not very much oil in the refuge.
Estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey find that there is only a six-month
supply of economically recoverable oil. Opening the refuge will have no
effect on oil prices because the supply is too small and Persian Gulf oil
too cheap.

In fact, because the United States has only 3 percent of the world's oil
reserves, opening all of our coasts, forests and wild places to drilling
would barely nudge world oil prices.

Many proponents of drilling have pointed to recent prices spikes as a
reason to drill. But any oil discovered in the refuge would not be
available for at least a decade. And getting this oil down to the lower 48
states will be no small feat either. It will require environmentally
destructive pipelines, pumping stations and sprawling industrial
infrastructure.

When Congress protected the arctic refuge from exploitation, the oil
industry blocked efforts to safeguard a crescent of land called the coastal
plain. The problem is that this sliver of coastline is the biological heart
of the refuge -- it's where polar bear have their dens, where massive herds
of caribou come to birth their calves, and where migratory birds from every
state flock in the summer. Drilling for oil will destroy the unique plants
on which caribou, musk oxen, wolves, polar bears and other animals depend
for survival.

Those who are in favor claim that new "environmentally friendly" techniques
will reduce the impact. But in Alaska we've learned that you cannot drill
for oil without spilling oil. And if nearby Prudhoe Bay is any indication,
drilling for oil in the refuge will surely destroy it.

Prudhoe Bay oil fields generate twice as much air pollution as Washington,
D.C. The area suffers more than 400 spills a year of oil or related
pollution. In February, a BP Amoco facility dumped thousands of gallons of
oil into the environment. In January, 20,000 gallons of drilling "mud" (a
petroleum-based lubricant) spilled from one of Prudhoe Bay's newest
facilities.

The upshot is that there are far better, easier and cheaper places to drill
for oil -- not to mention a host of ways to make better use of the oil and
gas we already have. Requiring SUVs and light trucks to get the same
mileage per gallon as cars would save more oil within 10 years than would
ever be produced from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

For these reasons we should encourage our Representatives in Congress to
support permanent protection for the coastal plain of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Legislation sponsored by Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA)
and Nancy Johnson (R-CT) in the House and Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) in
the Senate would do just that. The House bill, HR 770, and its Senate
counterpart, S.411, would provide much deserved permanent protection to
this vast and unique wilderness.


Sara Callaghan Chapell is the Sierra Club's Alaska representative. Write to
her at Sierra Club, 85 Second St., Second Floor, San Francisco, CA
94105-3441.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT
to [log in to unmask]