Prudhoe Bay... An example of what is yet to come .. without your help!
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Special thanks to all that supported and participated in our last mission... The clear cutting petition has expired.
My next goal. The Arctic Wilderness is in grave danger! Our fine President has decided he must have every drop of oil available regardless of the destruction it may cause to animals and the environment.
The oil industry has long sought access to the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It now has an important ally in President Bush, who included a provision to open the refuge to oil exploration and development in the proposed energy plan he submitted to Congress in May.
The House of Representatives handed the president a major boost to his plan in early August, when it passed energy legislation that allows drilling in the refuge .The fight has now moved to the Senate!
What would America gain by opening the refuge to oil activities? Very little. Oil from the Arctic Refuge will not mitigate the crisis in California, bring down gasoline or natural gas prices, or reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. Although drilling proponents often say there are 16 billion barrels of oil under the refuge's coastal plain, the U.S. Geological Service says the amount that could be recovered economically is more likely 3.2 billion gallons.
Moreover, it would take 10 years for that oil to reach the pump, and even at the peak year of production -- 2027 -- the refuge would produce less than 2 percent of projected U.S. energy consumption.
This small amount of oil would come at an enormous cost. The Arctic Refuge, known as "America's Serengeti," is among the world's last truly pristine wild places and one of the largest sanctuaries for Arctic animals on the planet. The coastal plain of the refuge is traversed by a dozen rivers and framed by the jagged peaks of spectacular mountains. This spectacular wilderness is a vital birthing ground for polar bears, grizzlies, Arctic wolves, the vast Porcupine herd of 130,000 caribou and the highly endangered shaggy musk ox, a mammoth-like survivor of the last Ice Age.
To see what oil activities bode for this pristine sanctuary, just look 60 miles west of the Arctic Refuge to Prudhoe Bay -- a gargantuan oil complex that has turned 1,000 square miles of fragile tundra into a sprawling industrial zone containing 1,500 miles of roads and pipelines, 1400 producing wells and 3 jetports. The result is a landscape defaced by mountains of sewage sludge, scrap metal, garbage and more than 60 contaminated waste sites that contain -- and often leak -- acids, lead, pesticides, solvents, diesel fuel, corrosives and other toxins.
The solution to America's energy problems is not to produce more, but to consume less. For instance, if we improved the average fuel efficiency of all cars and light trucks by just one mile per gallon, we'd save more oil than is likely to be recovered from the Arctic Refuge.
what we have now.Please don't allow W to destroy one of our last wild and beautiful places!
TAKE ACTION NOW. Tell Congress what you think!
Sign The Petition!
please don'at allow big oil to take this creature's home!
TAKE ACTION NOW. Tell Congress what you think!
Sign The Petition!
This page last updated September 11, 2001
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