Stop the Drilling in Alaska Before it Starts

Please call or write your US Congressman and Senator today and urge them to vote against the Budget Reconciliation bill as it begins moving through Congress and the Senate tomorrow. This budget bill contains the language that will open up speculative drilling for oil in one of America's last pristine wild areas, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This bill does not represent the will of the people of the US, but only the small but powerful oil interests. The vote is very close, just a couple of votes -- which should show you just how much the will of the people is contrary to the will of the party pushing it through, otherwise it would be along party lines. As it is, the moderate Republicans are against this too. Urge them all to keep the ANWR language out of the budget.

Additionally, the wording would end the 25-year moratorium on oil drilling off the east and west coasts which has protected our beaches from oil spills similar to that caused by the Exxon/Valdez wreck. The reason many of us have not experienced or seen such devastation in our lives is because of that moratorium. The bill also contains $19 billion of cuts to Medicaid too, which should also justify voting against it.

You may recall how much it costs to fill your gas tank. Meanwhile Exxon posted record profits of $9.9 billion this quarter -- that's just 3 months, and that's profit, not revenue. And that's just Exxon. All of the oil companies profit while you suffer. The same thing is about to be allowed to happen in Alaska -- the environment suffers drastically, while Big Oil continues to make huge profits. And the amount of oil reputed to be in ANWR is trivial. It's hardly even worth drilling for except out of arrogant contempt and principle.

Right now in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the oil companies are blaming environmentalists for blocking the construction of new refineries and facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. It is simply untrue. The oil companies do not want to build them. New proposed legislation that will strip the environmental impact studies from the requirements for construction is a smokescreen to blame environmentalists for the lack of supply. In reality, the oil companies are reaping huge profits from the current supply-and-demand balance. They do not want to see it change, so they are trying to drill in Alaska and play the victim in the Gulf as publicity stunts to blame environmentalists for the status quo of high gas prices.

Please urge your congressmen and senators to represent your values instead of corporate oil's interests. It is imperative that those of you in more conservative areas of the country make it known to your representatives that you do not support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or just a few miles from our nation's beaches. Please do so.