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Sierra Club Grassroots Email Express

SPECIAL ARCTIC REFUGE ALERT!!!

December 16, 2005

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FATE OF ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE TO BE DECIDED IN NEXT 24 HOURS:

We need your help!

We have been in touch before about the threat that Arctic Refuge drilling provisions would be added to the Budget Reconciliation bill.  Through your good work, and against tremendous pro-drilling forces, it appears that those forces will not be able to add Arctic drilling to the budget.

However, there is virtually no limit to what they will try in order to achieve their special interest goal.  In a last minute effort to pass widely opposed legislation, Senators led by Senator Stevens from Alaska slipped Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling language into the Defense Appropriations (spending) bill.  This back-door maneuver by pro-drilling politicians is nothing but a desperate attempt to hold the legislative process hostage to their misguided agenda.  It is particularly outrageous given that this is the bill that funds our troops in a time of war.

The Defense Appropriations bill is neither the venue in which to decide controversial policy issues, nor the venue to approve a scheme that would forever spoil a national treasure.  This legislation is intended to support our men and woman in uniform and should not be hijacked by those who are pushing drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

Please call Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins immediately and express your strong opposition and outrage to this scheme to force Arctic Refuge drilling into the Defense Appropriations bill.  Urge them to do everything in their power to stop the drilling lobby from hijacking the Defense spending bill.

Note:  Please begin by thanking them for their recent votes to protect the Arctic Refuge.

CALL SENATOR OLYMPIA SNOWE:   (202) 224-5344

CALL SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS:   (202) 224-2523

Their lines may be busy, but please keep on trying – it is very important that you get through and make your voice heard!  It does make a difference.  Just two days ago a major victory was won for our public lands when Congressional leaders agreed to drop a mining provision from the budget reconciliation bill.  The provision would have put millions of acres of public lands up for sale, including parks, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and wilderness areas.  This is a major victory for the conservation legacy of our nation and would not have been possible without your constant voice of opposition.