oil drilling
...estige of the American frontier that helped shape and define our national identity -- is today in grave danger of being destroyed by those seeking short-term oil profits at the expense of this spectacular national treasure. § ANWR was established in 1960 by President Eisenhower as one of the last untouched wildlife places on earth. Each Spring, one of the worlds biggest Caribou herds travels over 400 miles just to give birth in ANWR'S almost perfect nursery. Pregnant or nursing Caribou can be very sensitive and, at any disturbance, may leave the nursery and their calves. Each Summer, millions of graceful Snow Geese, Sand Hill Cranes, Red Throated Loons and many other bird species come to nest in this precious place before starting their long journey south. Each Fall, more pearly Polar Bears than anywhere else, come ashore to birth their cubs and build their dens. Pregnant and nursing Polar Bears are very sensitive and if disturbed they might leave their dens, resulting in fatal consequences for their cubs. All throughout the year, over 350 cumbersome Musk Oxen (one of our few survivors of the ice age) roam the fragile plains that they depend on so much, the plain that gives them shelter, food and a place to be! They depend on this land! If we let the Bush administration destroy this land that the animals depend on, our age old survivors may die! Do we really want to see such magnificent animals or their homes become destroyed? § ANWR production would provide little and be long in coming By the year 2000, if ANWR is in full production, it would reduce US importation of foreign oil from 62% of the national need to 60%, a 2% reduction. The United States Geological Survey scientists estimate that there is very likely only enough oil under the Arctic Refuge to supply America’s needs for six months! And the oil companies themselves admit that the oil would not be available for at least ten years. The oil under the Arctic Refuge (if there is any) will not lower gasoline, home heating oil, or electricity prices for consumers or reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil. (Map courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.) § Drilling in the refuge is not the answer to America’s energy problems. The government estimate that only seven months of economically recoverable oil exists in the coastal plain and it would not be available for 10 years. A much better approach to managing natural resources and securing future would be to require new utility vehicules to meet the fuel economy standards now in force for passenger cars. Such a step would save us more oil over the next decade than drilling in the ANWR would produce. § The reserve can be saved as a last resort decades from now when the nation have exhausted other supplies. § The Arctic Refuge supports more than just wildlife. For a thousand generations, the Gwich’in people of Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada have depended upon the Porcupine (River) caribou herd to sustain their culture. The caribou herd is central to their existence, providing food, clothing, and a critical link to their traditional ways. To the Gwich’in people, the Coastal Plain is sacred ground. For 1000 generations, the Gwich’in people have depended upon the Porcupine River caribou herd to sustain their culture. Gwich'in means “people of the caribou,” an apt name for a cultural group that so heavily relies on this majestic animal. The Gwich’in share the range of the Porcupine River caribou herd, except for the place the caribou go to bear their young each year: the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. To the Gwich’in, the coastal plain is sacred. Even in years of famine, the people did not travel to the coastal plain, where hunting would have been easy during the post-calving gathering of the herd. § Another environmental issue that this administration has failed to address is: TRANSPORTATION! One company, BP AMOCO, now lobbying to drill in ANWR, was responsible for 104 oil spills in Arctic waters between January 1997 and March 1998. That's 104 spills in a little over 1 year. AND, lets not forget the EXXON VALDEZ disaster of 1989, when nearly 11 MILLION gallons of oil spilled into Prince William Sound polluting over 1,000 miles of Alaskan shoreline and waters!!!! Each year, the oil industry spills tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and other hazardous materials on the North Slope. In fact, every day there is on average at least one spill either in the oil fields or at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline...