FW: An Earth Alert from ActForChange!

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takeaction4-request

[takeaction4-request]On Behalf Of

ActForChange

Wednesday, 7 March 2001 09:43

Activist

An Earth Alert from ActForChange!

 

 

 

You are receiving this update because you have previously taken action on

ActForChange.com. We hope you'll join our urgent campaign to stop an

environmental outrage our president has made a top priority.

 

In a deeply cynical maneuver, President Bush is citing California's

short-term energy crisis in an effort to push through approval of long-term

oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's

most important and fragile wildlife breeding zones. It is up to everyone who

cares about our environment to step forward and take action on this crucial

issue.

 

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=1244

 

Tell our senators they must protect this national treasure! By using the

link above you can take action right now from your computer in just a few

quick clicks. Simply click the link, or copy and paste it into your browser.

 

The oil industry has long campaigned for the rights to drill in the pristine

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with potentially devastating consequences

for the region's fragile habitat, native communities and unparalleled

wildlife. The 1.6 million-acre coastal plain of the refuge is the United

States' premier birthing and nursing ground for arctic wildlife, including

grizzly and polar bears, musk oxen, the arctic fox, wolves and wolverines,

135 bird species, and a migrating herd of caribou which supports thousands

of native people still living in harmony with this rugged land.

 

" The Arctic Refuge is a unique environmental cathedral -- a 19-million-acre

expanse where mountains meet ocean, where grizzly bears meet polar bears,

where 130,000 caribou migrate each spring to give birth on the coastal

plain, where an entire ecosystem is preserved and where Mother Nature is

totally in charge, " wrote journalist Thomas L. Friedman in the New York

Times (3/2/01). " This is not Yellowstone Park, with campsites and R.V.'s.

The original idea behind the Refuge's creation was to save an area of pure

wilderness, in which there would be no maps, virtually no roads and no

development. When the Bush team says it can drill in such wilderness without

harming it, it's like saying you can do online trading in church on your

Palm Pilot without disturbing anyone. It violates the very ethic of the

place. "

 

And the arguments Bush and his oil cronies make for drilling this cathedral

just don't hold up:

 

CLEAN, UNOBTRUSIVE DRILLING?

An average of 409 spills have occurred annually on Alaska's North Slope

since 1996, while operations produce tons of nitrogen oxides, which cause

smog and acid rain, and large amounts of sewage, garbage and scrap metal.

The drilling sites in the Arctic Refuge would be strewn throughout the

delicate coastal plain, linked by pipelines and roads.

 

ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE?

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the oil that could be extracted would

fuel the U.S. market for less than six months. Consider that increasing fuel

efficiency standards for new vehicles to an average of 39 miles per gallon

over the next decade would save 51 billion barrels of oil over the next 50

years -- more than 15 times the likely yield from the Arctic Refuge!

 

LOWER GAS PRICES?

The oil market is global, and oil from the Arctic Refuge would expand global

oil reserves by just 0.3 percent -- a quantity far too inconsequential to

affect prices at the pump or elsewhere.

 

CALIFORNIA POWER CRISIS SOLUTION?

Drilling in the coastal plain would have no impact on California's

electricity problems or any other state's electricity problems. Most U.S.

electric power plants do not use oil. Less than 1 percent of California's

electricity is generated by burning oil, and the average for the United

States as a whole is only 3 percent. Besides, no oil from the Refuge would

flow to refineries for at least a decade.

 

Despite all this, Alaska's Congressional delegation continues to push for

oil development in this fragile corner of the Arctic, which will fill the

state's coffers with oil drilling royalties. On Feb. 26, Sen. Frank

Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a sweeping piece of energy policy

legislation that would allow Arctic Refuge drilling, while also weakening

nationwide power plant standards designed to fight global warming.

 

Please stand with us as we fight this attempt to ravage one of the last

truly wild landscapes in the United States. To take action, simply click on

the link below or copy and paste it into your browser.

 

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=1244

 

There is strength in numbers! So once you take action, please forward this

e-mail to friends and associates so they can speak out, too.

 

You can also take action on these and many other crucial, timely actions at

ActForChange:

 

End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=1075

 

Tell Ford to Offer Environment-friendly Cars

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=4452

 

Ban Special Interest Money in Elections

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=10601

 

And, if after taking action, you want to do even more to protect the Arctic

National Wildlife Refuge, go to http://www.giveforchange.com and make a

donation to Defenders of Wildlife or Natural Resources Defense Council

(NRDC) who are working on protecting this natural resource. Or you can

donate to the Sierra Club through the link below.

 

Sierra Club (Donate now and get a free expedition pack!)

http://www.workingforchange.com/shop/vendorgo.cfm?PageID=154

 

With appreciation,

 

Michael Kieschnick

President, Working Assets

 

 

 

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