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Defenders Magazine
Defenders in Action: Fight to Save Arctic Goes On
The U.S. Senate in mid-March narrowly rejected an attempt to protect Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. The 49-to-51 vote is a setback for conservationists, who have fought for nearly two decades to keep the “crown jewel” of the refuge system free from development. But pro-drilling forces face several obstacles before the measure becomes law.
“They may have cleared the first hurdle by the skin of their teeth, but this thing isn’t over, not by a long shot,” says Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders. “Every step they take from here on out will just get harder.”
At 19.8 million acres, the Arctic refuge is the largest refuge in the United States. Its pristine landscapes shelter caribou, polar bears, Dall sheep, whales and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. Drilling would bring wells, pipelines, roads and pollution to this fragile natural area, damaging it forever. What’s more, any oil extracted from the refuge would likely offset only a tiny fraction of America’s oil imports.
Despite these facts, the oil lobby has worked for years to persuade Congress to open the refuge to drilling, failing repeatedly. This year, bolstered by newly elected pro-drilling legislators, Republicans in the Senate attached the Arctic drilling measure to the 2006 federal budget bill, which requires only a simple majority to pass. A proposal by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) to strip the measure from the bill failed. But the budget must still be approved by both chambers of Congress before it becomes law, and that process will likely take months. During that time, Defenders and its allies will continue their efforts to protect the Arctic refuge.
“This is a tough vote for us to swallow, but the American people have said all along that they’re opposed to Arctic refuge drilling, and Congress is about to find out just how angry they can get,” Schlickeisen says.
For the latest news, check out www.savearcticrefuge.org.
