Urgent!!

Voice readers: Please sign on to the letter below urging Senators to vote against drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

WEST VIRGINIANS for the ARCTIC REFUGE

The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
The Honorable John D. Rockefeller
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Byrd and Rockefeller:

As deeply concerned citizens, and on behalf of the undersigned West Virginia organizations, we are writing to urge you to oppose oil drilling in our nation’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The sensitive coastal plain of the Refuge, where drilling is proposed, is a convergence area for 135 migratory bird species, from every state in the lower 48 --including snow geese, harlequin ducks, spectacled eiders, teals, snowy owls, and tundra swans. This is the ancient calving area for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. Polar bears, grizzlies, musk oxen, and wolves live here as they have for tens of thousands of years, unchanged from the dawn of human history and before.

The Gwich’in Native American people are entirely dependent on the Porcupine Caribou herd of the Refuge. Development on the coastal plan will destroy the GwichÆin way of life. "The Gwich’in have lived in harmony with the caribou for hundreds of generations," says Gwich’in Faith Gemmill. "I cannot believe that the American people could sanction a threat that could sacrifice forever our way of life."

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there may be only six months worth of oil supply under the Refuge -- and it would take 10 years to get the first drop to market. Ten times more jobs can come from improved energy efficiency, and from the construction of a new Alaska pipeline to bring gas from lands already open to development.

This is America’s last great wilderness area. And Americans decided many years ago, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, that this area must be preserved in its pristine state -- for its wilderness values, wildlife, and traditional ways of life. We cannot break faith with those who passed this legacy on to us and to the generations to come.

Like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has become -- in this time of trial for our country -- a key symbol of the broad and magnificent American natural landscape. The Refuge stands forever and undisturbed as an exemplar of the rugged northern rim of our great nation. Let’s not turn our national treasure into an industrial site.

West Virginians understand energy issues. America can solve its energy problems, but not at the cost of undoing our commitment and responsibility to protect our natural treasures.

Very truly yours,

Let me know that you have signed on by e-mail, phone or mail.

As the Voice goes to press we have signed on the West Virginia Environmental Council, the League of Women Voters, The West Virginia Rivers Coalition, The Service Employees International Union District 1199. More West Virginia organizations are signing on daily.

Judy Rodd
WV Alaska Coalition
501 Elizabeth St.
Charleston, WV 25311
roddj@hotmail.com
1-877-WVA LAND.

We will deliver the names to the WV Delegation before the vote on the issue (late Feb. early March) and announce the names we have at a press conference on E-Day at the Capitol on February 22nd. Thanks for your help.