Alert on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the House-passed energy bill
 
Tuesday, November 13, the full US Senate is poised to begin debating the 
Economic Stimulus bill. Pro-drilling senators are threatening to attach an 
amendment to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Also several 
Republicans are threatening to attach the House-passed Energy Bill (HR 4) to 
the economic stimulus bill.
 
Please call our Senators to ask that they vote against these amendments to 
the Economic Stimulus bill. 
 
Talking points include:
 
We cannot drill for oil in the Refuge in an environmentally sensitive manner. 
 In Prudhoe Bay, there is an oil spill every single day.  The Refuge is too 
sensitive to caribou, polar bears, musk oxen, and birds to risk destroying 
the land by oil spills and drilling activities.
 
The House Energy bill limits the number of acres that will be developed to 
2,000 acres, implying a small concentrated spot on the coastal plain.  
According the US Geological Survey, the oil under the coastal plain is spread 
out in numerous deposits.  There will not be one highly concentrated spot for 
drilling, instead the drilling will be spread across the coastal plain.  
These drilling sites will be linked with roads and pipelines. The way 
the bill is written, the 2,000 acres counts only where development actually 
hits the tundra – the footprint of a building or the support legs for the 
pipeline.  It specifically excludes gravel mines and gravel roads – both 
items that will destroy the tundra.  
 
We will not be able to drill ourselves out of foreign energy dependence.  The 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has the amount of oil the US uses in 6 months.
 
America needs a sound energy policy, one that emphasizes conservation, 
renewable fuels such as fuel cells and wind energy.  
 
Nuclear energy creates toxic and dangerous waste.
 
We should raise the fuel efficiency of cars, light trucks, and SUV’s.