FYI
Neila Seaman, MPA
Director
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
[log in to unmask]
515-277-8868
>From: "Scott Hed" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Arctic Refuge in the Crosshairs
>Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:57:30 -0600
>
>Iowans,
>Wanted to let you know what's taking place with the battle for the
>Arctic Refuge. Please read the short article below for the absolute
>latest news.
>Also, we've got an organizer in Davenport for the next 3 months. His
>name is Matt Glazer and he can be reached at [log in to unmask] or
>281-687-2441.
>Matt is in Iowa because Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA, 1st District.and likely
>candidate for governor next election) is chair of the House Budget
>Committee. As chair, Rep. Nussle will have a leadership position which
>will be powerful in our efforts to keep the Arctic Refuge out of the
>budget bill. We'll need Iowans from across the state to weigh in with
>Rep. Nussle - thanking him for keeping the Refuge out of past budgets
>and asking him to do it again. Rep. Nussle's offices can be reached at
>800-839-5276 (US Capitol switchboard), 563-927-5141 (Manchester),
>563-557-7740 (Dubuque), 563-326-1841 (Davenport), or 319-235-1109
>(Waterloo). Take a minute and place this quick, but extremely important
>call.
>There will be a slide tour coming through Iowa in February. Dates are
>Feb. 2 - Feb. 10, with stops scheduled in Ames, Waterloo, Dubuque,
>Davenport, Cedar Rapids, and Des Moines. More details will be coming
>regarding this tour.
>That's all for now. Read this short article and place your call. And
>thanks so much for all you do to keep the Arctic Refuge and other
>special places in Alaska protected!
>Scott Hed - Alaska Coalition
>Battle Looms Again Over Drilling Alaska Wildlife Refuge
>With Republicans having added four seats to increase their Senate
>majority to 55, the battle over drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife
>Refuge (ANWR) is high on the agenda once again.
>Rather than including ANWR as part of an energy bill, pro-drilling
>forces are expected to attempt to insert ANWR into a budget resolution.
>This is because an energy bill can be filibustered, with 60 votes
>required to end the filibuster, while a budget resolution requires only
>a simple majority, and cannot be filibustered. The GOP sought to use
>this tactic in 2003, but lost by a 52-48 vote.
>Criticizing the tactic, Kristin Cummings, senior Alaska Lands Advocate
>at the <javascript:ol('http://ga3.org/ct/J71G7ys1cmLv/');> National
>Wildlife Federation, calls the move a backdoor attempt to write
>legislation, pointing out that the energy bill has no place in a budget
>resolution. "It's not a revenue raising mechanism," says Cummings. "It
>needs to be in a forum where it can be openly debated on its merits."
>As Athan Manuel, director of
><javascript:ol('http://ga3.org/ct/D11G7ys1cmLt/');> U.S. PIRG's Arctic
>Wilderness Campaign, told
><javascript:ol('http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/');> BushGreenwatch,
>"Including the arctic refuge in the budget shows how desperate drilling
>proponents are to open this wilderness and hide it from the American
>public."
>The Bush Administration touts drilling ANWR as a way to reduce
>dependence on imported oil. Opponents point out that it will take as
>long as 10 years before any ANWR oil could reach the market, and even
>then it would provide at best a six-months' supply. Defenders of
>Wildlife notes that a mere one-mile-per-gallon increase in fuel
>efficiency would save half-a-million barrels of oil per day--but
>drilling advocates show so sign of supporting such a measure. [1]
>Three Senate Democrats--Mary Landrieu (LA), Daniel Akada (HI) and Daniel
>Inouye (HI)--voted in favor of drilling ANWR in the last Senate vote, in
>2003. Eight Republicans opposed it. They include Sens. Peter Fitzgerald
>(R-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike DeWine (R-OH),
>Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), John McCain (R-AZ), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Gordon
>Smith (R-OR).
>Polls by both Democrat and Republican organizations find Americans
>opposed to drilling ANWR by a two-to-one margin. [2]
>Signs of waning corporate support may be sprouting, with the
>announcement yesterday that ConocoPhillips, the largest oil company in
>Alaska, is withdrawing from Arctic Power, and is no longer actively
>advocating drilling in the region. [3] Arctic Power is a lobbying group
>that focuses solely on opening the coastal plain of the Arctic Natioanl
>Wildlife Refuge for drilling. BP, also one of the largest operators in
>Alaska, withdrew from Arctic Power in November 2002.
>
>
>TAKE ACTION
>Take action through <javascript:ol('http://ga3.org/ct/Jp1G7ys1cmL5/');>
>www.SaveArcticRefuge.org <http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/>
>
>
>SOURCES:
>[1] <javascript:ol('http://ga3.org/ct/J11G7ys1cmLr/');> Defenders of
>Wildlife website.
>[2] <javascript:ol('http://ga3.org/ct/Jd1G7ys1cmLf/');> Arctic Poll
>Results, League of Conservation Voters.
>[3] U.S. PIRG press release, Jan. 5, 2005.
>
>Scott Hed
>Plains & Prairie Organizer
>Alaska Coalition
>231 S. Phillips Avenue, # 361
>Sioux Falls, SD 57104
>(605) 336-6738 office
>(605) 351-1646 cell
>(270) 747-5520 fax
>[log in to unmask]
>www.alaskacoalition.org
>
>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship
e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's
latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent
editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/