Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Danger Again

The Wilderness Society

It seems that big oil and their Congressional allies are relentless. When it comes to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), there is never a crisis for which drilling isn’t the answer. High oil prices? Drill the ANWR. Too few jobs in America? Drill the ANWR. The latest crisis, what can we do to reduce the deficit, has the same answer—drill ANWR.

The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Sept. 21 to discuss opening the ANWR to oil and gas drilling, and using the revenue to pay down the federal deficit. As with many of these hearings, there was heated rhetoric from both sides. While drilling promoters trotted out questionable jobs statistics, defenders of the ANWR quickly pointed out flaws in the arguments—many of them stemming from inflated numbers in an oil-industry produced jobs report.

“It’s not creative. It’s not new,” said Gene Karpinski of the League of Conservation Voters of the idea to drill in the ANWR. Karpinski and David Jenkins of Republicans for Environmental Protection defended the ANWR from the pro-drilling witnesses, including the Alaska congressional delegation, noting that the estimates of available oil and job creation potential were suspect at best, and would have devastating impacts on the ANWR.

But while members of Congress argued in Washington, another hearing was taking place across the country, showing how much support the ANWR has in Alaska.

In Anchorage, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a public hearing on the ANWR’s draft revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan, and people who spoke in favor of wilderness protection for the coastal plain and other parts of the refuge outnumbered the pro-drilling crowd by a margin of 2 to 1.

Many Gwich’in tribal members attended, and a wide array of citizens spoke passionately about their love for the refuge and the importance of preserving it for future generations. Instead of pleas for short-term gains in oil revenue and jobs, the majority of Alaskans at the hearing called for responsible stewardship of wildlife, the preservation of a unique and irreplaceable landscape, and protections for native culture and subsistence ways of life.

The message from Alaskans was clear—the ANWR is too special to sacrifice for oil.

The question is, will anyone in Washington listen?

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