LISTSERV - IOWA-TOPICS Archives - LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG

Subject: Oct 1 vote on Bush push to add Arctic drilling to energy bill
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 14:20:23 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable


Senate Conferees to Vote on Arctic Refuge -- tomorrow!

The House energy conference committee members have voted along
party lines, 10-7, to pass to the Senate conferees their proposal for
drilling in the Arctic Refuge.  The Senate energy conferees will be voting
whether or not to reject this proposal on Tuesday, October 1, at 3pm.


The House proposal is almost identical to the one that the entire House
passed last year in HR 4.

The American people have said it repeatedly: the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is a unique national treasure that should be protected, in its
entirety, for future generations. Six months of oil that won't be available
for 10 years isn't worth turning it into a sacrifice zone for oil industry
profits.

Any Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain drilling program, no matter how it is
structured, would irreparably damage the unparalleled wilderness character
and wildlife values of the Refuge.

The Amendment to H.R. 4 offered in the Energy Bill conference committee
shows there is no credible claim that oil drilling on the Coastal Plain of
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be conducted in an
"environmentally
sensitive" manner.  The language:

** Exempts a large part of a leasing program from the environmental review
and public participation provisions of the National Environmental Policy
Act.

** Implements weaker standards for the protection of the environment,
wildlife and wilderness character of the Arctic Refuge than exist in laws
that apply elsewhere.

** Limits the authority currently found in key provisions of the Endangered
Species Act and Refuge Administration Act to close areas in the Refuge for
important protective reasons.

** Fails to mandate almost any specific environmental protection for the
Coastal Plain, instead relying on the Interior Secretary's discretion to
impose such protections.

This amendment contains the same misleading and meaningless 2,000-acre
"limitation" on development that the Senate already overwhelmingly
rejected.

** H.R. 4 opens the entire 1.5 million-acre coastal plain "1002 area" of
the
Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing and exploration.  The 2,000-acre
"limitation" would not cover seismic or other exploration activities,
gravel
mines or roads.  Exploration and production wells could be drilled anywhere
on the entire 1.5 million-acre coastal plain.

** According to the U.S. Geological Survey, oil under the coastal plain is
not concentrated in one large reservoir within a 2,000-acre area but is
spread across the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain in many small deposits.
To
produce oil from this vast area, supporting infrastructure would have to
stretch across the coastal plain.  Networks of pipelines and roads
obviously
would fragment wildlife habitat.

SEND EMAILS!!!

It is really important that those Senators on the Conference Committee hear
from us by Tuesday morning!  While the Republican Senators on the committee
have vowed to vote for drilling and the democrats to oppose the drilling,
it
is vitally important that they all know how their constituents feel!  The
following is a list of the Senators on the Energy Conference Committee.

Democrats:

BINGAMAN (NM), HOLLINGS (SC), BAUCUS (MT),
KERRY (MA), ROCKEFELLER (WV), BREAUX (LA),
REID (NV), JEFFORDS (VT), LIEBERMAN (CT)

Republicans:

MURKOWSKI (AK), DOMENICI (NM), GRASSLEY (IA),
NICKLES (OK), LOTT (MS), CRAIG (ID),
CAMPBELL (CO), and THOMAS (WY)

To send a free email, go to Alaska Wilderness League's website at
www.alaskawild.org and click on "E-mail Congress", or go directly to the
email site at http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=3DAWL.


Erik DuMont
National Field Director
Alaska Wilderness League
122 C Street, NW Suite 240
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 544-5205, f: (202) 544-5197
[log in to unmask]
www.alaskawild.org



Thanks for helping America's Arctic!
__________
 Vicky Hoover
Sierra Club Alaska Task Force
415)977-5527
[log in to unmask]