ANWR and asst. things

[Guest guest]

ARCTIC REFUGE/ENERGY LEGISLATION

The Senate will be in recess for the next two weeks and will again

take up energy legislation (S. 517) on its return to work April

8th. With work on the bill only partially complete, there is a

clear pattern emerging of a systematic effort to unravel the best

this bill has to offer. The most obvious example: A provision that

would have increased auto fuel efficiency standards (CAFE) by 50%

was defeated and replaced with a measure to leave the decision up to

the Bush Administration.

 

By a 58 to 40 vote, the Senate voted to retain a provision requiring

10% of the nation's electricity be generated from renewable sources -

like wing and solar. Unfortunately, the Senate appears poised to

adopt language to weaken those provisions of the bill. The next

assault we are expecting is an amendment to open the Arctic Refuge

to oil drilling. We continue our vigilance on this legislation, and

we expect increasing pressure on Senators to shape the bill to the

oil industry's purposes.

 

Thank you for your calls and emails and faxes. All of them serve to

remind our Senators that our energy future should not be left in the

hands of the oil industry. For those of you who have made phone

calls on this issue and then dropped us a note, that information has

been enormously useful as we formulate our political strategies.

 

If you have an opportunity to meet with your senators during the

recess, when many of them will be visiting their home states, we

urge you to do so. You'll find many resources you can print out and

use at: http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/act.htm

 

To keep apprised of the latest on the Arctic Refuge, visit:

http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/