Action Alert: Artic Refuge Drilling Vote Thursday
I don't often write about environmental issues. But there's an important vote coming up Thursday. The full Senate is expected to vote on a budget resolution that instructs the Energy Committee to authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The budget resolution the Senate is debating assumes that offering leases for oil and gas drilling in the federal refuge would raise some $3 billion in revenue. If the language remains intact, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would be directed to produce language for a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill that would open ANWR to drilling.
The action alert page from the Wilderness Society will send a message to your Senator. Spreading the word on your blogs also would help.
The federal budget should not be used to force controversial policy measures through Congress that cannot be passed otherwise. Such a blatant abuse of the budget process would set a dangerous precedent and permanently damage the integrity of the Senate.
....Drilling in the Coastal Plain of the Refuge would sacrifice a national treasure of stunning landscapes and abundant wildlife in order to save just one penny at the gas pump, twenty years from now. Energy experts agree that there are cleaner, cheaper, and faster ways to address our energy needs, such as making our cars go further on a gallon of gasoline and investing in clean, renewable energy.
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