From the Wilderness Society tonight: Statement on the House-Senate Compromise, Energy Legislation William H. Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society At a press conference this morning, Senator Pete Domenici (R, NM) confirmed that House and Senate negotiators have decided to abandon attempts to include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the final Energy Bill conference report. If that's true, Americans can breathe a sigh of relief; the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has dodged yet another bullet. The fact is that Arctic Refuge drilling should never have been in the crosshairs in the first place. When House/Senate conferees agreed today to drop a provision authorizing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they finally saw the writing on the wall: the American public wants wildlife - not oil companies- to roam free in its wildlife refuges. Nevertheless, it would be a terrible mistake to think that taking Arctic drilling out of the bill somehow makes this energy bill worth voting for. A Zogby International poll released this week found that 55 percent of Americans agree. They think it would be better if this bill didn't pass Congress, and the vast majority want more efficient cars and more renewable energy like wind and solar, not the drilling incentives and corporate tax breaks in the bill. The remainder of the bill being considered by the energy conference committee still contains provisions that would effectively make oil drilling the dominant activity on millions of acres of public lands and coastlines. From the Otero Mesa in New Mexico to the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana to the most ecologically and culturally sensitive places in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, this bill hands over public treasures for private profit, while scrapping or delaying long-standing protections for clean air, clean water, and public health. Poll after poll has shown that the American people believe some places are so wild, so special, and so important that they should be off limits to oil drilling. There can be no doubt that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of those places. Drilling in the Arctic would have ruined an irreplaceable natural treasure forever, for just a few months' worth of oil a decade from now. It is gratifying that the energy conferees have once more seen the light and dropped their ill-conceived attempt to drill one of America's last, wildest places. Even though drilling there would do nothing to address America's energy needs, it's a given that drilling boosters will try again to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge sooner or later. We will be watching their every move, and we will be ready to stop them again. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]