Not Just An Environmental Issue
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would threaten the subsistence culture of the Gwich'in people, who have lived near the Arctic Refuge for thousands of years. The Gwich'in, whose name means "people of the caribou," depend on the Porcupine caribou herd for food, shelter, and as a link to their traditional way of life.

We Can't Drill Our Way To Energy Independence
Opening up the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge wouldn't solve our energy problems. The U.S. Geological Survey assessment of the coastal plain estimates that the oil found in the Arctic Refuge would meet the energy needs of the United States for only four to six months. Even if we started drilling today, that oil wouldn't reach American consumers for at least 10 years.

In fact, increasing the average fuel efficiency of cars and trucks by a mere two percent per year would save at least twice as much oil as is found in the coastal plain.

What We're Doing To Protect the Refuge
Once again we are fighting a defensive battle to keep Arctic-drilling language out of the final budget reconciliation bill. Drilling proponents, led by Sen. Pete Domenici, realize that their best chance to open the Refuge is via the budget process; the excuse is that drilling in the coastal plain, which is federal land that would be leased to private companies, would generate revenue for the federal budget.

Passing the budget is a multi-step process. Each house of congress has to first craft a budget resolution in committee followed by floor votes on the budget resolution. Those steps have already happened. In March, the budget came out of the House and Senate committees with non-direct yet threatening Arctic drilling language (it specifically asks Congress to raise revenue in a variety of ways, including drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge). In April, the House and Senate narrowly passed their budget resolutions. This fall, Congress has moved on to the budget reconciliation process. Though the Senate recently passed a reconciliation bill that contains drilling language, the House Leadership was forced to remove arctic provisions from the bill due of strong opposition from House Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Despite this great victory, the battle isn’t over. There is still a possibility that arctic drilling language will reappear in the conference version of the bill. Subsequently, we are urging our House advocates to continue to stand firm against reconciliation if such provisions are reintroduced, and we are calling on the Senate to take advantage of this second chance to say no to arctic drilling.

With The Dirty Four: As part of its efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from environmentally devastating drilling, the state PIRGs are waging a corporate campaign against the oil companies—BP, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and Phillips—pushing to open the Refuge to oil exploration. This action has taken the form of shareholder resolutions, reports documenting the dirty and dangerous track record of the oil industry, and human rights campaigns organized by the indigenous peoples whose lives are threatened by oil drilling.

How You Can Help
You can help protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, along with the people and wildlife who depend upon it. Click here to find out how.