From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Arctic/Energy: House Approves Arctic Drilling, Skirts Real Energy 
Solutions Again
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 12:45:11 -0700


For Immediate Release: May 25, 2006
Contact: Annie Strickler, (415) 977-5619

    House Once Again Ducks Real Energy Solutions, Passes Bill to Drill in
                                Arctic Refuge
           Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

"In what has become a broken record of a failed energy policy, the U.S.
House today voted 225-201 to approve oil drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. The bill was muscled through by House Resources Chairman
Richard Pombo (R-CA) who, according to a new report in this week’s 
Stockton
Record (
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/NEWS01/605220329/1001
), has collected more than $212,000 in the 2006 election cycle from oil and
energy companies. This bill is, once again, dead on arrival in the Senate,
and we hope those in the House and Senate who have consistently rejected
Arctic Refuge drilling in favor of real energy solutions will continue to
stand strong.

"Many in Congress have been too busy currying favor with Big Oil to address
forward-looking energy solutions. Their misplaced priorities have hurt
American families for far too long, and the tired calls for drilling in the
Arctic Refuge have become a broken record of a failed energy policy.

"Congress has already insulted Americans this year with a proposal to give
everyone $100 as part of a scam to open the Arctic Refuge and temper ire
over gas prices. Imagine how Americans will feel when they learn that
Congress once again wasted time on an Arctic Refuge drilling provision
that, according to the Department of Energy, will save families only about
a penny per gallon at the pump in 20 years.

"When pressed to provide real solutions to America’s energy woes, the
leadership in Congress is so starved for ideas that drilling the Arctic
Refuge and our coasts is all they come up with. Giving gifts to Big Oil is
about all they know how to do, and their ‘drill it all’ mentality has
stymied true progress on cleaner, cheaper, faster and safer energy
solutions.

"America is still addicted to oil, oil companies are drowning in record
high profits, and average American families are feeling the pinch at the
pump. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will do nothing to change that. Energy
experts agree that the best ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil
are to make cars go further on a gallon of gas.  Americans deserve a
cheaper, quicker, safer and cleaner energy policy that safeguards the wild
places we care so deeply about.

"Soon the House will have another chance to choose between the interests of
the American public or the interests of Big Oil, automakers, and their army
of high-paid lobbyists. Congress is expected to address Corporate Average
Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards in the coming weeks, including a bipartisan
proposal By Reps. Markey (D-MA) and Boehlert (R-NY) to grant President Bush
the authority to restructure the system and set a minimum standard of 33
miles per gallon for the passenger car fleet. This is the way to break our
oil addiction and save families money at the pump, not by drilling the
Arctic Refuge."

For more information and a timeline of the Arctic drilling broken record,
please visit www.sierraclub.org/arctic

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