Protect the Arctic Refuge
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Some cynical politicians in Washington will stop at nothing to open our Arctic Refuge to oil drilling - including holding important legislation hostage to push their agenda through Congress. Over the past year, WildAlert subscribers like you have fought attempts to attach drilling in the Arctic Refuge to bills like the federal budget and funding for our troops overseas.
Now these politicians have reached the height of cynical politics - they are threatening to hold hostage legislation to make our cars and trucks more energy efficient.
There are better solutions to America's energy problems than destroying our last remaining wild places by opening them to drilling. Americans have shown time and again that we are overwhelmingly opposed to opening the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.
Yet some members of Congress - allies to Big Oil -- simply refuse to stop their quest to open this pristine wilderness to drilling.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will NOT solve America's energy problems. If the Arctic Refuge is opened to oil drilling, it would do almost nothing to lower gas prices in the United States. In fact, according to the Energy Department's own figures, oil from the Arctic Refuge wouldn't lower the price of gas by more than about a penny per gallon twenty years from now!
Arctic Refuge drilling is not an energy solution - it's just another way of prolonging America's oil addiction. No amount of domestic drilling will bridge the gap between the oil we use and the oil we might have under our soil, or lower gasoline prices. The United States consumes 25 percent of the world's daily oil production, but we sit atop just three percent of the world's oil supply.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge or America's other wild places won't help families, but would line the pockets of big oil companies. Rather than focusing all of their energies on extracting small amounts of oil while ruining our treasured wild lands, Congress should make America more energy efficient and speed adoption of renewable energy sources - and they can do that today, using technologies that exist now.
Thank you for all that you do to protect the Arctic Refuge and America's wild places!
Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
Director, Electronic Communications
The Wilderness Society
P.S. Now WildAlert subscribers have a unique opportunity to double their impact in the fight to protect our wild lands. When you make a secure online contribution to The Wilderness Society before midnight on June 15, 2006 your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar by a group of generous donors! Click here to make your donation now.
The Wilderness Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving American wilderness. Our mission is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water, wildlife, beauty, and opportunity for recreation and renewal provided by pristine forests, rivers, deserts, and mountains. As a subscriber to WildAlert, you join more than 300,000 Wilderness Society members and supporters in our efforts to protect and restore America's wild places.
Photo: Rainbow over the Coastal Plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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