WASHINGTON - Today the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and other national environmental groups unveiled a campaign to persuade wavering members of Congress to oppose the worst elements of the Bush administration’s energy plan. Bush’s proposal to dramatically increase domestic oil and gas production at the expense of environmental and public health protections is headed for scrutiny next week on the House floor. LCV released the text and locations of radio and print ads designed to encourage citizens to voice opposition to President Bush’s plan and his intention to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Undecided members of Congress should recognize that the vast majority of Americans, including most of their own constituents, oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” said Betsy Loyless, LCV’s political director. “The upcoming House votes on the dirty, dangerous Bush energy plan will be a big environmental test for vulnerable members who are painfully aware that the next elections are only 17 months away. How these representatives vote on the important elements of the energy plan will largely determine how voters see them at re-election time.”

The radio ads will run in the media markets of Des Moines, Iowa; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Hartford, Connecticut, targeting Reps. Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.), and Rob Simmons (R-Conn.). The Bush administration proposal to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge is included in H.R. 2436, a bill that seeks to open new public lands to oil and gas drilling and weakening federal safeguards that currently prohibit exploration in environmentally sensitive areas.

Loyless added, “Our ads will help citizens use the power of their voices to tell those members to say no to a tragically myopic proposal to drill in one of America’s most special places - a wildlife refuge we should preserve and protect, not drill and destroy.”

The environmental community - including the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and the Natural Resources Defense Council - is going to extraordinary lengths to forestall the most egregious elements of Bush’s energy plan. In addition to radio and print advertising in selected congressional districts, environmental organizations will employ other grassroots tactics such as phone banks and door-to-door canvassing. The community will also promote positive clean energy alternatives, such as closing the loophole allowing SUVs and light trucks to skirt fuel efficiency standards applied to other passenger vehicles.