WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN -- URGENT -- Your calls are needed to keep
the Arctic Refuge off-limits to oil drilling

Some Senators are using the current hike in gas prices (a hike due to
OPEC's
manipulation of the oil market) to vie for opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The coastal plain of the Refuge is

the last sliver of Alaska's North Slope (5% of the North Slope) not
currently
available for oil and gas development.  Moreover, no one even knows if --
or
how much -- oil is actually there. At best, estimates show less than a
six-month supply, which will take ten years to bring online.  Besides, no
speculative long or short-term benefit is worth exploiting one of America's

 most unique natural treasures.

The latest attack on the Refuge is a provision in the Budget bill that
would
encourage drilling by using imaginary revenues from drilling in the coastal

plain to determine overall budget levels.

Senator Grassley is on the Senate Budget Committee ----- let's let him hear
from us about protecting the Arctic coastal plain.

(Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121)
e-mail  [log in to unmask]

We expect a vote in the Senate Budget Committee this Wednesday (3/29)

Jane Clark
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SENATE BILL WILL INCLUDE ARCTIC DRILLING REVENUES - ANOTHER BACK DOOR
ATTEMPT TO
PLUNDER PUBLIC LANDS FOR PRIVATE PROFIT

The crown jewel of our National Wildlife System is under attack!  Under the
guise of combating high gas prices some politicians are pressing for
passage of
a 2001 budget bill that would include a resolution by Senate Budget
Committee
Chair Pete Domenici (R-NM) to include a large amount of Arctic Coastal
plain oil
revenues in the budget. This would give the green light to Congress to pass
legislation authored by Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski to proceed with
drilling
in the coastal plain.  Often called "America's Serengeti" because of its
abundant caribou, polar bear, grizzly, wolf and other wildlife populations,
the
remote and pristine coastal plain represents the last five-percent of
Alaska's
Arctic Slope not already open to development.

The same politicians who now advocate plundering this natural treasure have
repeatedly blocked sound conservation measures like raising fuel economy
standards for our nation's automobiles and increasing the use of
alternative
fuels. Their real goal is to use political scare tactics to turn more of
our
public lands over to multinational developers.

Call your Senators today (Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121) and let them
know
you oppose plundering our nation's last vestige of protected Arctic
wilderness
for a questionable, short-term supply of oil.  Please urge them to oppose
language by Senator Domenici to include Arctic oil revenues in the budget
bill;
ask them instead to support an amendment to the budget bill that would
strike
Arctic Refuge drilling revenues from the federal budget bill.  In addition,
urge
them to cosponsor legislation  by Senator William Roth (S.867) that will
designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain as wilderness
and
thus forever safeguard the spectacular area and the wildlife that depend on
it.

We expect a vote in the Senate Budget Committee this Wednesday (3/29) and a
full
Senate vote as early as next week so please make your call today! And
please
distribute this alert far and wide so that all Senators can receive calls.
Thank
you for your help!

Members of the Senate Budget Committee:
Republicans:
Chair, Pete Domenici, NM
Spencer Abraham, MI
Christopher Bond, MO
Bill Frist, TN
Slade Gorton, WA
Rod Grams, MN
Charles Grassley, IA
Judd Gregg, NH
Don Nickles, OK
Gordon Smith, OR
Olympia Snowe, ME

Democrats:
Frank Lautenberg, NJ, ranking member
Barbara Boxer, CA
Kent Conrad, ND
Richard Durbin, IL
Russ Feingold, WI
Ernest Hollings, SC
Tim Johnson, SD
Patty Murray, WA
Paul Sarbanes, MD
Ron Wyden, OR

WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN -- URGENT -- Your calls are needed RIGHT AWAY to keep
 the Arctic Refuge off-limits to oil drilling

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