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President.
[Page: S2210] GPO's PDF
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NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL,
April 4, 2000.
U.S. SENATE,
Washington,
DC.
DEAR SENATOR: I am writing on behalf of the more than 400,000 Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) members from across the country to respectfully urge you to oppose any legislative provisions that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration. As you know, the FY 2001 Budget Resolution that the Senate Budget Committee reported to floor includes damaging language that assumes revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
Under the guise of combating high gas prices, some legislators are pressing to open the Arctic Refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain to oil exploitation. The coastal plain is often called. ``America's Serengeti'' because of its abundant caribou, polar bear, grizzly, wolf and other wildlife populations, and represents the last five-percent of Alaska's Arctic Slope not already open to development. It would be ill-advised to open up our nation's Arctic wilderness for a questionable, short-term supply of oil.
We respectfully encourage you to oppose any bill or resolution that would open up the last pristine wilderness in the Arctic to oil and gas development, and urge you to support Senator Roth's amendment to the 2001 Budget Resolution to strike Arctic Refuge drilling revenues from the federal budget.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams,
President.
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NATIONAL PARKS
CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION,
April 4, 2000.
Re Oppose degradation of the Arctic Coastal Plain
DEAR SENATOR: On behalf of our 400,000, the National Parks Conservation Association strongly urges you to oppose efforts to include projected revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain in the pending Budget Reconciliation bill.
The Arctic coastal plain has long been recognized as a spectacular national gem because of its spectacular scenery and diverse and abundant wildlife. The coastal plain richly deserves its tag of ``America's Serengeti,'' as over 130,000 caribou of the Porcupine herd migrate there every spring to their calving grounds, and more than 300,000 snow geese are found there in the fall.
Attempts to open the coastal plain for drilling for oil have reared their head in Congress over the past three decades. Recent increases in gasoline prices have renewed the call to open the plain for oil production, resulting in an ``assumption'' of revenue from drilling in the Arctic Refuge in the Budget Reconciliation bill.
Opening up the coastal plain would not be a solution to the short-term increases in gasoline prices, nor would it address the nation's long-term energy strategy. In fact, the United States Geological Service estimates that even if oil were found in the coastal plain, production would never meet more than two percent of our nation's oil needs at any given time. This supply would hardly justify the production facilities and related infrastructure that would destroy the unique character of the coastal plain.
Your support in opposing efforts to promote oil development and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is critical. Thank you for your attention to these concerns.
Sincerely,
Tom Kiernan,
President.
--
U.S. Public Interest Research Group, National Association of State PIRGs,
Washington, DC, April 4, 2000.
DEAR SENATOR: The United States Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) urges you to support an amendment to the Budget Bill to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Senator Roth, the sponsor of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wilderness bill, will offer an amendment today to strip language from the Senate Budget bill that would allow leasing and drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.
The coastal plain is one of the last unspoiled areas left in the United States. Caribou, muskoxen, wolves, polar, black and brown bears, and thousands of migratory birds rely on the pristine habitat the Refuge provides. The annual migration of the 129,000 member Porcupine river caribou herd evokes images of the long-gone buffalo herds of the Great Plains. Most states, and a number of nations in South America, throughout the Pacific Rim and beyond are visited each year by birds from the Arctic coastal plain.
The Arctic Refuge is also home to the Gwich'in, the people of the caribou. The Gwich'in have lived in and around the Refuge for thousands of years. To them the coastal plain is sacred. Oil drilling will damage the coastal plain's environment and therefore jeopardize one of the last native subsistence cultures in North America.
Allowing oil drilling and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would destroy the wilderness, yet would do virtually nothing to ease our energy problems or lower gas prices. A national energy policy that emphasizes energy efficiency, increases auto fuel efficiency standards, and promo tes renewable energy would save more oil than thought to be in the coastal plain, preserve sensitive areas like the Arctic Refuge, and reduce pollution.
U.S. PIRG urges you to support the Roth Arctic amendment to the Budget bill and to Save America's Arctic.
Athan Manuel,
Director, Arctic Wilderness
Campaign.
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FRIENDS OF THE EARTH,
1025 VERMONT AVE., NW,
Washington, DC, April 4, 2000.
DEAR SENATOR: On behalf of the thousands of members of Friends of the Earth, we urge you to support efforts by Senator ROTH (R-DE) to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) from being opened for oil exploration. Currently, the FY 2001 Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 101) includes language that assumes receipts from the sale of oil leases in ANWR. Seismic exploration and oil drilling in a national refuge is an unacceptable short-term approach to the problems associated with the current oil crisis, and one which would have long-term devastating consequences.
ANWR encompasses 19 million acres of pristine wilderness. Created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960, ANWR is sanctuary for nearly 200 species of wildlife including polar bears, grizzlies, wolves, caribou and millions of birds. The area under consideration for oil exploration--a 1.5 million-acre coastal plain--is referred to by many scientists as the ``biological heart'' of the Arctic Refuge and represents the last five percent of Alaska's Arctic slope not already open to drilling. Though some maintain that modern technology allows clean exploration, many scientists have noted that today's seismic oil exploration, consisting of large crews with bulldozers, ``thumper'' trucks, fuel supp ly veh icles and a variety of other tracked vehicles, is even more damaging to the landscape than it has been in the past.
Drilling in ANWR would do little to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey has found that ANWR would provide us with less than six months worth of oil. A more responsible solution to the problem is to develop and promote sustainable forms of clean energy.
We should not sell off this priceless wildlife refuge for a short-term energy fix. Support Senator ROTH in his efforts to defend the one of the few remaining natural treasures in the United States.
Sincerely,
COURTNEY CURF,
Legislative Director.
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THE IZAAK WALTON
LEAGUE OF AMERICA,
April 4, 2000.
DEAR SENATOR: At the IWLA convention in 19u8, IWLA members from all over the United States passed a resolution in favor of Wilderness protection for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In June of 1978, I visited Anchorage, Valdez and Prudhoe Bay with seven IWLA board members, as guests of Arctic Power and the State of Alaska--who wanted us to change our policy.
After a grueling four-day schedule, during which our members interviewed hundreds of Alaskans, we sat together quietly together and unanimously agreed that our policy should remain unchanged. Our decision was reaffirmed by our 1998 convention. While we did not presume to know what the future might bring, and did not go so far as to say that the Refuge should never be opened to oil development, we were certain that it should not be developed today.
Any oil from the Refuge will have an imperceptible impact on our nation's dependence on foreign oil. Almost any adjustment in CAFE standards would do m ore. As time passes and technology improves, more oil can be recovered at significantly less impact to the environment if it is indeed needed for national security.
The 45,000 members of the Izaak Walton League of America support full Wilderness protection for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and oppose any oil development in the Refuge at this time.
Sincerely,
Paul W. Hansen,
Executive Director.
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SIERRA CLUB,
Washington, DC, March 17, 2000.
U.S. SENATE,
Washington, DC.
DEAR SENATOR: Oil prices are arising because OPEC--the cartel of oil exporting countries--is manipulating the market to drive up petroleum prices. Many in Congress are seeking legislative redress for Americans who face higher prices at the pump. But some in Congress are using the oil price hike to renew their call to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. Consumers are seeking answers, but drilling the Arctic Refuge is not the solution.
America cannot drill its way to energy independence. We import more than half of our oil, 56% at present, and the United States contains less than 3% of the world's known oil reserves. Any way you look at it, increased domestic production does not add up to energy independence. Though some say the answer to our nation's energy needs lie below the surface of the coastal plain, the Sierra Club believes that this spectacular landscape should not be sacrificed.
No one knows how much, if any, oil lies beneath the coastal plain. In 1998, the United States Geological Service (USGS) published a determination of the mean estimate of economically recoverable oil as 3.2 billion barrels of oil. That's less than a six-month supply at current consumption rates and even at peak production, arctic oil would represent only 2% of total U.S. daily demand.
[Page: S2211] GPO's PDF
95% of Alaska's vast North Slope is already available for oil and gas exploration and leasing. The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge represents the last 5% that remains off-limits to drilling.
The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is America's serengeti. Nestled between the towering mountains of the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, the narrow 1.5 million acre coastal plain in the biological heart of this untamed wilderness. It is home to unique and abundant wildlife: wolves, polar bear, musk ox and wolverine. A myriad of bird species rely on the coastal plain for breeding, nesting and migratory stopovers on trips as far away as the Baja peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay, and even Antarctica. The coastal plain is also the calving grounds for the 129,000 member Porcupine River Caribou herd, which migrates over 400 miles each year to this same place to give birth to their young. It is a migration reminiscent of the buffalo that once roamed the great plains.
It doesn't matter how much or how little oil may lie underneath the coastal plain. Drilling the Arctic Refuge would be as shortsighted as damming the Grand Canyon or tapping Old Faithful. More drilling isn't the answer--reducing our dependency on oil is the solution. America needs a long-term energy strategy that is based on conservation and renewables, alternative energy sources, and raising the Corporate Average Fuel Ec onomy st andar ds for a utomobiles and light trucks. Such a long-te rm strategy will help America ultimately decrease its dependency on oil and allow us to protect our national treasures like the Arctic Refuge for future generations.
We urge you to oppose legislative attempts to open the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas development. The Sierra Club opposes S. 2214, Senator Frank Murkowski's development bill, and will strenuously oppose attempts to insert arctic drilling revenue assumptions in the Budget Resolution.
Instead, we urge you to support a bill, S. 867, authored by Senator William Roth of Delaware and cosponsored by 24 other Senators, that would grant permanent protection to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. OPEC's manipulation of oil prices is no excuse to drill in our last great wilderness. Thank you for your consideration of this very important issue.
Sincerely,
Carl Pope,
Executive Director.
Mrs. BOXER. I also have a letter written by the Ambassador from Canada saying that it is very important we support Senator ROTH'S legislation. I ask unanimous consent to have that printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
CANADIAN EMBASSY,
AMBASSADOR DU CANADA,
Washington, DC, April 3, 2000.
Hon. BARBARA
BOXER,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
DEAR SENATOR BOXER, I am writing to express Canada's concern with the proposal in the budget under consideration by the Senate to seek revenues from prospective lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Any decision to proceed with oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge will have serious implications for Canada.
Canada joins with many Americans in the belief that opening up the Arctic Refuge to hydrocarbon development will cause major disruptions in the sensitive calving grounds and will affect migratory patterns of the Porcupine Caribou Herd on which thousands of Canadian and American native peoples depend.
In signing the 1987 Canada-United States Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, both governments recognized the transboundary nature of these wildlife resources and our joint responsibility for protecting them.
In 1984, Canada gave permanent wilderness protection to its portion of the caribou calving grounds by creating the Ivvavik National Park. The critical calving grounds in the United States, however, do not have formal protection and remain vulnerable to development, as evidenced by the recent budgetary proposal.
Canada has consistently stated that the best way to ensure the future of the shared wildlife populations of the Arctic Coastal Plain is to designate the ``1002 Lands'' as wilderness, thereby providing permanent, equal protection on both sides of the border to these irreplaceable living resources.
I very much appreciate your support for wilderness protection for all of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I hope that you find Canadian views helpful in your deliberations with your colleagues on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Raymond Chrétien,
Ambassador.
Mrs. BOXER. They say we need to do this in order to uphold our agreement with Canada to protect the Porcupine caribou herd which depends upon the refuge for its survival.
In closing, I am very pleased to join with Senator ROTH. I thank my ranking member, Senator LAUTENBERG, for being so supportive of this amendment when I offered it in the committee. We delivered every single Democrat for the environment. I was proud of that. I was very pleased we had an additional vote in the committee from the Republican side, Senator SNOWE. I thank her from the bottom of my heart.
Again, this is a bipartisan issue. It dates back to the Eisenhower administration. Let us stand together across party lines. Let us get rid of this $1.2 billion revenue. It is wrong to put it in there because it is wrong to drill in this refuge. It is wrong to put it in there because it, frankly, isn't going to happen.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Will the Senator from California yield?
Mrs. BOXER. I am happy to yield to the Senator.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. L. CHAFEE). The time of the Senator has expired.
Mrs. BOXER. I am happy to yield on your time.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. I note that the picture my friend from California identified--and that is an extraordinary picture of the Brooks Range, as she may not know--is nowhere near the Coastal Plain, the 1002 area about which we are talking. It is probably somewhere between 80 and 100 miles away. That is the wilderness we are committed to support and does not represent at all the Coastal Plain which is the issue before us.
Mrs. BOXER. We were given it from people in your State supporting it.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. It is a beautiful picture of Brooks Range, but it is not the 1002 area.
Mrs. BOXER. They sent it directly from your State.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. I wouldn't want the Senate to be misled.
Mrs. BOXER. It comes from your people from your State. If they were misleading, I am surprised about that.
Mr. ROTH. I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the budget resolution assumes revenues from leasing the lands in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.
I, too, support the efforts of the senior Senator from Delaware to ensure that drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not used as a revenue assumption. I have also long been a cosponsor of his bill to designate the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge as a wilderness area.
Not only do I support this amendment along with many Members of this body, but also I support this amendment along with Members of the other body who have worked so hard on this issue. I particularly recognize the efforts of my colleague in the other body, Mr. VENTO, who so long and so well has led the fight to designate the refuge as wilderness.
I am concerned this assumption obligates Congress to decide whether or not to drill on the Coastal Plain refuge before we decide whether or not it should be designated as wilderness. Drilling on the Coastal Plain allows an activity that is generally considered to be incompatible with designated wilderness areas.
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