From Robert Redford for NRDC.

No one voted on Election Day to destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But President Bush is now claiming a mandate to do exactly that.

Congressional leaders are pushing for a quick vote that would turn America's
greatest sanctuary for Arctic wildlife into a vast, polluted oil field.

Even worse, they are planning to avoid public debate on this devastating
measure by hiding it in a must-pass budget bill.

Please go to http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arctic0501.asp
right now and send a message telling your U.S. senators and representative
to
reject this sneak attack on the Arctic Refuge.

And please forward my message to your friends, family and colleagues. We
must
mobilize millions of Americans in opposition as quickly as possible.

Don't believe for a second that the president is targeting the Arctic Refuge
for the sake of America's energy security or to lower gas prices at the
pump.

President Bush knows full well that oil drilled in the Arctic Refuge would
take
ten years to get to market and would never equal more than a paltry one or
two
percent of our nation's daily consumption. Simply put, sacrificing the crown
jewel of our wildlife heritage would do nothing to reduce gas prices or
break
our addiction to Persian Gulf oil.

But if the raid on the Arctic Refuge isn't really about gas prices or energy
security, then what is it about?

It's the symbolism.

The Arctic Refuge represents everything spectacular and everything
endangered
about America's natural heritage. It embodies a million years of ecological
serenity . . . a vast stretch of pristine wilderness . . . an irreplaceable
birthing ground for polar bears, caribou and white wolves.

It is the greatest living reminder that conserving nature in its wild state
is
a core American value. It stands for every remnant of wilderness that we, as
a
people, have wisely chosen to protect from the relentless march of
bulldozers,
chain saws and oil rigs.

And that's why the Bush administration is dead set on destroying it.

By unlocking the Arctic Refuge, they hope to open the door for oil, gas and
coal giants to invade our last and best wild places: our western
canyonlands,
our ancient forests, our coastal waters, even our national monuments.

This is the real agenda behind the raid on the Arctic Refuge and the entire
Bush-Cheney energy plan: to transfer our public estate into corporate hands
so
it can be liquidated for a quick buck.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) admitted as much when he said this
battle over the Arctic Refuge is really a fight over whether energy
exploration
will be allowed in similarly sensitive areas in the future. "It's about
precedent," Rep. DeLay said.

I take him at his word. If we let the president and Congress plunder the
Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge for the sake of oil company profits, then no piece
of
our natural heritage will be safe from wholesale destruction.

Please go to http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arctic0501.asp
and tell your senators and representative they have no mandate to destroy
the
Arctic Refuge. Then please be sure to forward this message to as many people
as
you can.

And thank you for speaking out at this critical time.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
Board of Trustees
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]