For Immediate Release:                                Contact: Megan Lewis
(202) 548-6587
      February 6, 2006                                               Annie
      Strickler (202) 487-4493

                     President Bush Won't Kick the Oil Habit
            Revenues from Arctic Drilling Included in Budget Proposal
          Statement of Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club

      In last week's State of the Union address, President Bush admitted
      that the United States is suffering from an oil addiction.  Less than
      one week later, he is already having a relapse. Today, the President
      released his 2007 federal budget request to Congress- and once again,
      it includes revenues from drilling the Arctic National Wildlife
      Refuge.

      Americans are ready for a new energy future, and greeted last week's
      vision with enthusiasm.  President Bush's request for one more
      destructive fix is a disappointment.  The President is squandering a
      historic opportunity to lead America out of its energy crisis.
      Rather than decisively putting clean, cheap, smart energy solutions
      to work, the President’s budget is little more than a repackaging of
      the same old wish-list for corporate lobbyists that fails to provide
      America with adequate environmental protection, security, or job
      creation.

      By investing in modern technology, America could cut its dependence
      on dirty fossil fuels while saving consumers money, preserving
      treasured places, and keeping Americans safer.  An energy policy that
      puts our families ahead of corporate lobbyists would invest in
      smarter technology to lower energy bills and create jobs, invest in
      renewable energy and energy efficiency, and raise fuel economy
      standards to save more oil than the United States currently imports
      from the entire Persian Gulf or could ever take out of the Arctic
      Refuge.

      President Bush's drill-it-all approach is a tired scheme that was
      defeated in last year's budget. In 2005, drilling advocates tried
      every trick in the book to advance the controversial proposal to
      drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  They attached the measure
      to the House-passed energy bill, inserted it into the Federal budget,
      and Senator Stevens even made a last-ditch effort to add it to the
      must-pass Defense Appropriations bill.  Despite Congress's rejection
      of these back door tactics, the Bush Administration continues to push
      a failed energy policy.  This year's blueprint includes four billion
      dollars in anticipated revenues to be realized through the sale of
      oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

      President Bush's budget also sets aside additional money to pave the
      way for more oil and gas development on our public lands and off our
      coasts.  The budget includes funds to facilitate and accelerate
      permitting for increased drilling on Bureau of Land Management lands,
      and pumps more money to study expanding oil and gas development in
      deepwater areas off the outer continental shelf.

      Congress and the Administration must stop wasting energy on these
      dead-end drilling schemes and chart a course to a cleaner energy
      future.

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