FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 16, 2005

CONTACTS
Maureen Drouin, Maine Sierra Club, (207) 761-5616 or (207) 485-0215
Barbara Winterson, Maine Sierra Club, (207) 967-8517 or (207) 283-0170 x2215
Annie Strickler, Sierra Club, (202) 675-2384
 

SENATE TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: Fight to Protect Pristine Wilderness Far From Over
 

Maine Sierra Club applauds Senators Snowe and Collins for voting to protect the Arctic Refuge
 

Washington, D.C. – The Senate today voted by a razor-thin margin to push forward a measure to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of the Federal Budget Resolution. A bipartisan group of Senators, including Maine’s Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, attempted to safeguard this national treasure and the native people and wildlife that depend on it but were unable to overcome heavy lobbying by the Bush administration, pro-drilling members of Congress and the oil industry. Fifty-one Senators rejected an amendment to strip Arctic drilling revenues from the Budget Resolution.

“Today’s vote is an abuse of the budget process that undermines the pillars of our democracy. It is fiscally irresponsible and would sacrifice one of America’s great natural treasures,” said Barbara Winterson, chair of Maine Sierra Club.

The Bush administration and allies in Congress advanced Arctic drilling through the complicated budget process by slipping in an assumption of $2.4 billion in revenues to the federal treasury from leasing and development of the Arctic Refuge. When the Budget was brought to the floor today, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John Kerry (D-MA) offered an amendment to strip Arctic drilling revenues from the bill, which lost by a vote of 49-51.

“We thank Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins who stood firm against tremendous pressure from the Bush administration, pro-drilling members of Congress and their allies in the oil industry to support the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” said Maureen Drouin, Northeast Regional Representative of Sierra Club in Portland. “They recognize that the budget is an inappropriate place to decide controversial national policy matters like America's energy policy. We urge all members of Congress to remain steadfast in their support for ensuring that the Refuge is protected, not needlessly plundered. The vast, unspoiled wilderness of America’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is more than a line item in the Federal Budget.”

Even after the vote on the Cantwell amendment, the Senate must still pass the budget resolution- before it goes to the conference committee. There, they must iron out their differences with the House spending plan, which does not assume Arctic drilling revenues. The conference report is then subject to a straight up or down vote in both the House and Senate. The next step is the
Budget Reconciliation Bill where Congress passes the actual legislation to authorize opening the Arctic Refuge to drilling.

“It’s deeply disappointing that 51 Senators caved to pressure and, based on phony revenue projections and speculative amounts of oil, used the Federal Budget process to advance their plans for Arctic drilling,” said Winterson, “The risk to too great and the gain would be too little.”

“This fight is far from over, and a strong, bipartisan coalition of Senators - backed by the will of the American people – will press on with a vigilant campaign to keep the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where it belongs: wild and free and out of the budget,” said Drouin.

Senators Snowe and Collins know that Americans support protecting, not plundering, this national treasure and that an open and honest debate would mean certain defeat. It’s hard to believe that the democratic processes we enjoy here in America, indeed those same pillars of our democratic system we champion around the globe, are being undermined before our eyes.