Alaska’s Arctic Refuge at risk of sneaky pro-drilling tactics
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is under threat by a pro-drilling Congress, and the oil industry’s favorite U.S. senators hope you won’t see the attack coming until it’s too late.
Americans have long opposed oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge, which, at more than 19 million acres, is America’s largest wildlife refuge and provides habitat and birthing grounds for caribou, polar bears and migratory birds from around the globe
With a pro-drilling president, and Republican control of the House and Senate, some members of Congress see an opportunity to auction off the refuge’s fragile coastal plain to the highest bidders, and they want to minimize opposition to their plans.
Our experts in Washington, D.C., say Republicans are likely to advance their cause when nobody’s watching by using sneaky tactics and the complex congressional process of budget reconciliation.
To put it simply, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and her friends may try to use the budget reconciliation process to pretend that the revenues raised from oil drilling in the Refuge are necessary to balance the federal budget.
They will then go so far as to say that to keep the government funded, they have no choice but to pass a bill that includes Arctic Refuge drilling.
Oil and gas drilling would have devastating impacts on this pristine and fragile ecosystem, caused by the massive infrastructure needed to extract and transport oil. Drilling the Arctic is risky, would fragment vital habitat and chronic spills of oil and other toxic substances onto the fragile tundra would forever scar this now pristine landscape and disrupt its wildlife.
We need your help to protect one of America’s last untouched, pristine places. Please take a moment to ask your senators to take a public stand against any executive or congressional maneuver that would open the refuge to drilling.
