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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT: Oil Companies Want Arctic Wildlife Refuge
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives & Portal
10/13/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
The
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska covers 19
million
acres and contains a "broad diversity of wildlife and
vegetation,
thundering rivers and jagged mountains."
After 40 years
of
protected status, America's Serengeti-one of its largest remaining
pristine
wildernesses-is to be sacrificed for a few months of oil
consumption
almost a decade down the line. Big oil,
and George Bush
in
particular, are intent upon opening this protected reserve to
commercial
oil production. If protected areas in
the United States
cannot
be maintained against the forces of constantly increasing
demands
for resources, natural reserves are unlikely to remain fully
protected
anywhere in the World. As big oil is
poised to grab the
reigns
of power in the United States, an atrocious precedent is to be
set-no
ecosystem is to remain untouched, and no areas are to be
protected
from industrial resource extraction.
What of the links
between
oil prices and exploration, terrestrial habitat and ecosystem
loss,
and climate change? The ANWR oil
debate, and oil exploration
in
other fully functional large ecosystems, represents the final
dismantling
of the Earth's ecological life-support systems.
Following
are three excellent items on the matter; a good background
piece,
a timely action alert, and information regarding upcoming in-
depth
coverage on the topic by CNN and Time.
Please take the time to
educate
yourself further on this matter and respond to the action
alert,
which seeks to convince President Clinton to designate this
treasured
wildland as a national monument, and thereby protect it
from
oil drilling. The Wilderness Society's
action alert can be
found
at: http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/index.htm?enn
g.b.
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ITEM #1
Title: Oil companies want Arctic wildlife
refuge
Source: Copyright 2000, Associated Press
Date: October 10, 2000
Jim
Waldman of the Wilderness Society has been there only once, but
he
remembers it as "like nothing I've ever seen" and one of "the
most
spectacular
wildlife areas in North America."
But
when former Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyoming, visited the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge, he saw nothing special. He recalls a fellow
senator
and first-time visitor getting off the airplane and looking
across
the flat tundra in the northeastern corner of Alaska and
remarking,
"Is this it?"
Far
above the Arctic Circle, a 100-mile long strip of land that is he
coastal
plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has emerged as a
hotly
debated issue in the presidential campaign between GOP nominee
George
W. Bush and his Democratic rival Al Gore.
Bush
wants to develop its oil. Gore wants it to stay off limits to
drilling
because of its environmental and ecological value.
Designated
for protection in 1960 by President Eisenhower, the refuge
has
been a flashpoint for environmentalists for years, while at the
same
time coveted by some of America's biggest oil companies.
While
environmentalists like Waldman view the refuge as nothing short
of
North America's version of Africa's Serengeti Plain, oil
executives
are eager to tap the riches below the frozen tundra -
anywhere
from 5.6 billion to possibly 16 billion barrels of oil.
Twenty
years ago, Congress banned oil development in the refuge 50
miles
east of the rich but declining Prudhoe Bay oil fields along
Alaska's
North Slope. Oil industry lobbyists and Alaska's
congressional
delegation have sought to undo that ever since, while
others
in Congress have tried to end the debate by declaring the
refuge's
oil-rich coastal plain a permanently protected wilderness.
Neither
side has been successful.
But as
part of his energy plan, Bush has made oil drilling in the
refuge
a top priority, arguing it could be done without harming
wildlife
and the refuge's environmentally valuable ecosystem.
"It
will produce a million barrels a day. Today we import a million
barrels
from (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein," Bush argued during
last
week's debate with Gore.
Calling
the refuge one of America's "environmental treasures," Gore
said
the potential oil find is not "a fair price to pay to destroy
precious
parts of America's environment."
Few
issues set off alarm bells as quickly in the environmental
community
as talk of oil drilling in ANWR (pronounced AN-wahr) - as
the
refuge is commonly called.
"It's
like nothing you've ever seen in your life," says Waldman, who
is the
Wilderness Society's point man in Washington on the refuge.
"This
place is so special that we shouldn't be willing to take any
risk
with it."
The
refuge, which covers 19 million acres in the northeastern corner
of
Alaska, consists of starkly different geography with a broad
diversity
of wildlife and vegetation, thundering rivers and jagged
mountains.
But it
is the northern coastal plain and rolling foothills - 15 to 50
miles
wide sandwiched between the towering peaks of the Brooks Range
and the
Beaufort Sea - that has oil geologists excited.
That is
where the oil is.
And it
is also where each summer millions of migratory birds and
waterfowl
- some from as far away as Argentina and China as well as
America's
own Chesapeake Bay - nest and feed on the thawing tundra,
cottongrasses,
plants and shrubs.
It is
where 150,000 porcupine caribou gather each summer in massive
herds
and give birth to their young, finally departing in the early
fall.
The summer arctic sun never sets and temperatures average 40
degrees,
reaching into the 80s on occasion.
In
winter the plain takes on the look of a snow-covered wasteland, a
denning
area for polar bears who seek out the deep snow to wait out
the
winter. Added to the year-round mix are wolves, musk oxen,
grizzlies
and an occasional moose.
No
matter what assurances are given, oil development will risk
destruction
of this isolated haven for the wild, says Waldman,
echoing
the fears of most other environmentalists.
But
Wallop, who now heads Frontier for Freedom, a conservative
advocacy
groups, counters: "To say you can't drill there is nothing
but
emotional. It has nothing to do with reality."
Like
Wallop, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, is convinced oil
development
and protection of the refuge and its wildlife can go hand
in
hand.
Modern
drilling technology will leave little impact on the land, says
Murkowski,
adding that as for the caribou, "we've been protecting
them
for centuries and will continue to do so."
But
major questions remain: How much oil is there? And could it help
lower
gasoline prices?
Only
one exploratory well has been drilled in the refuge and its
findings
are secret. Based upon geology, the government estimates
that
the refuge almost certainly has 5.6 billion barrels of oil and
there
is a good chance it contains twice that, most of it
economically
recoverable, but only if oil sells at $25 a barrel.
By
comparison, since 1978, about 12.9 billion barrels of crude have
been
taken out of the nearby Prudhoe Bay fields, says Floyd
Wiesepapa,
a petroleum engineer at the federal Energy Information
Administration.
It is
estimated that the ANWR fields could produce about 1 million to
1.35
million barrels day, a little bit less than the 1.4 million
barrels
a day provided the United States by Saudi Arabia last year.
But
even if leases were sold today, oil would not likely begin to
flow
out of ANWR for a decade and then may have little impact on
either
prices or global oil markets, many energy experts say.
"As
long as the Persian Gulf nations have a lot of (cheap) oil,
they're
going to dominate the world market whether we allow drilling
in
environmentally sensitive areas or not," says Jerry Taylor, an
energy
expert at the free market-oriented CATO Institute.
ITEM #2
Title: The Wilderness Society's New Cyber Campaign
Enlists Citizens
To Save The Arctic Refuge From Oil Drilling
Source: The Wilderness Society
Date: October 11, 2000
Dedicated
Arctic Site Mobilizes Advocates To Send Their Messages
To
President Clinton
WASHINGTON,
DC--The Wilderness Society today announces the launch of
a
web-based campaign to raise awareness and garner support from
Americans
nationwide to protect the unique wilderness of the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge and deliver those individual opinions
directly
-- and immediately -- to President Clinton. The goal of the
cyber
campaign is to convince the President to designate the
treasured
wildland as a national monument, and thereby protect it
from
oil drilling.
The
Wilderness Society is enlisting hundreds of thousands of
Americans
online to get the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
designated
as a national monument by President Clinton before he
leaves
office. The Web site --
http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/index.htm?enn
--
serves as a central resource for Arctic information and action. It
provides
a Take Action utility that allows visitors to send
customizable
emails immediately to President Clinton -- right from
their
desktops. The Wilderness Society hopes that the speed and word-
of-mouth
characteristics of the Internet and email will make the
designation
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a reality before
it's
too late.
The
Arctic Refuge is the sacred homeland of the Native American
Gwich'in
people and habitat for polar bears, caribou, and millions of
migratory
birds. The fact that drilling in the Arctic Refuge has once
again
been inserted into the debate on America's energy policy
underlines
the urgent need for President Clinton to better protect
this
crown jewel of American wilderness from development.
"Every
time energy prices rise, big oil interests and their political
friends
start singing the same old song -- drill for oil in the
Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, one of America's last,
pristine
wilderness areas -- and our national energy problems will be
solved,"
said Jim Waltman, The Wilderness Society director of refuges
and
wildlife. "It's like a broken record and boy, is that tune
getting
old!"
"Our
campaign will raise awareness that, truth be told, drilling in
the
Arctic Refuge would not only be environmentally destructive, it
would
do very little, if anything to affect our energy prices or
security,"
Waltman added. "But more importantly, our campaign will
empower
individuals to contact the White House directly, via email,
and add
their name to a growing list of other supporters, now
numbering
in the hundreds of thousands, who are asking the President
to
protect the Arctic Refuge by making it a national monument."
The
Arctic web site makes it easy for concerned citizens to learn
about
the issue, take action, and to get involved. It provides
compelling
facts in support of protecting the Refuge, data on the
far-reaching
effects that drilling would have both on the Refuge and
across
the United States, profiles of the native people, animals,
birds,
and habitats, and a "Photo Trek" of one photographer's three-
month
journey to the Arctic Refuge.
Visitors
to http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/index.htm?enn can stay
involved
in this effort once they have taken action by sending news
about
the campaign to their friends, family, and colleagues right
from
the site and by joining a mailing list to receive regular news
about
the campaign and other Wilderness issues.
"We
want to make it easy and meaningful for visitors to get involved
with
this campaign, especially if they have never visited the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge, because it really does affect all
Americans.
This Web site and campaign helps us promote the idea that
wilderness
is everywhere, and everyone can help protect it -- even
from a
computer," Waltman said.
Founded
in 1935, The Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness
and to develop a nationwide network of wild lands through
public
education, scientific analysis, and advocacy. Its goal is to
ensure
that future generations enjoy the clean air and water, beauty,
wildlife,
and opportunities for recreation and spiritual renewal
provided
by the nation's pristine forests, rivers, deserts, and
mountains.
For more information, visit our web site at
http://www.wilderness.org/?enn.
For more facts about drilling for oil
in the
Arctic Refuge, visit:
http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/index.htm?enn
To
receive Wilderness Society news releases and tip sheets online,
send an
email message to: newsroom@tws.org. Please type "Get News
Online"
in the subject line and include your name and news
affiliation.
CONTACT:
Jim
Waltman
Director,
Refuges and Wildlife
jim_waltman@tws.org
(202)
429-2674; cell (202) 669-9206
ITEM #3
Title: CNN&TIME Reports on the Fate of the Wild
Source: Cable News Network
Date: October 10, 2000
With
environmental issues among the hottest topics in the current
presidential
race, CNN correspondent Mark Potter reports for CNN&TIME
on the
fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Sunday,
Oct.
15, at 9 p.m. (ET) on CNN/U.S.
For the
past two decades, nearly a quarter of America's oil
production
has come from a site just 60 miles from the refuge. With
its
braided rivers, rugged mountains and coastal plains, ANWR remains
one of
America's untamed places. Now, in one
of the country's
biggest
land battles, the lines are drawn between those who want this
natural
treasure preserved and those who want to tap the riches that
may lie
below.
While
the battle heats up between the presidential candidates and
between
environmentalists and the oil industry, CNN&Time also looks
at the
struggle at ground zero - where North Slope Eskimos favor
drilling
and Gwich'in Indian oppose it. The
Eskimos, who own land
where
oil companies want to drill, stand to earn large royalties. The
Gwich'in,
in turn, fear development will decimate the caribou herd on
which
they depend to sustain their subsistence hunting culture.
Industry
supporters argue that it would be easy to extend the reach
of the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline and revive dwindling production by
pumping
oil from the Wildlife Refuge. But environmentalists argue
that
the so-called "footprint of development" would inevitably lead
to
industrial sprawl, spoiling the land forever.
"The
Fate of the Wild" is produced by Scott Wallace and Kimberly Arp
Babbit.
The Oct. 16 edition of TIME Magazine will also feature an
article
on ANWR written by Wallace, who led the news team to the
Alaskan
Arctic in the last days of summer.
CNN&TIME
is a weekly television newsmagazine that brings together the
reporting
and global reach of two news leaders.
Airing each Sunday
from
9-10 p.m. and co-anchored by Jeff Greenfield and Bernard Shaw,
CNN&TIME
draws upon the world-wide newsgathering resources of both
CNN and
Time to bring viewers investigative reports, documentary
features
and profiles.
-30-
CONTACT:
Caryn
Sperling
Atlanta
404/827-1790
caryn.sperling@turner.com
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