Alaskan Wilderness Under Threat

[pedro san pedro]

The Bush administration is using the recent
rise in gasoline prices as a pretext to sacrifice one of America's greatest
natural treasures -- the Western Arctic Reserve of Alaska -- to massive oil
development.

We have a very narrow window in which to block this corporate-sponsored
raid on our natural heritage. Over the next 30 days, the Bush administration is
taking public comments on its plan to put 96 percent of the reserve's
wildlife-filled northeast region on the auction block.

I am asking you and hundreds of thousands of others to join me in
flooding the Bush administration with messages of protest over the next critical
weeks.

Please do your part by going to
http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/t...tion.asp?RR0407
and sending an electronic message telling the Bureau of Land Management
to withdraw its destructive plan and to permanently protect the reserve's
world- class wildlife habitats.

Then please forward my message to as many people as you can.

The Western Arctic Reserve may be less well-known than the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge -- which lies directly to the east -- but its wildlife
populations are every bit as unique, spectacular and endangered.

I am especially concerned about the Western Arctic Reserve's Teshekpuk
Lake region -- one of the most important tundra-wetland ecosystems left on
our planet. This vast network of coastal lagoons, deep water lakes, sedge
grass meadows and braided streams provides the critical calving grounds for
the 45,000-member Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd.

Thirty percent of all Pacific black brant also take refuge in these safe
and remote wetlands, remaining flightless while they replace their old
feathers. Steller's eiders, northern pintails, tundra swans and rare yellow-billed
loons are just a few of the other amazing species that flock to Teshekpuk Lake
to nest, free from disturbance. Come fall, some of these birds will migrate
as far south as Antarctica.

Polar bears roam the coastal areas of Teshekpuk Lake from summer to
early winter. And people are counting on the lake for survival as well. The
Inupiat Eskimos have subsisted here in balance with nature for at least 8,000
years by following the herds of caribou.

Incredibly, the Western Arctic has never been granted full federal
protection. That's because it was set aside as the "National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska" nearly a century ago. But Congress also stipulated that this oil field be tapped only in time of dire national need.

Our government kept oil rigs out of the Western Arctic Reserve even
during the darkest days of World War II and the oil embargo of the 1970s. As a
result, most of the reserve has remained pristine -- its primeval beauty
unmarred by roads, oil rigs or other signs of human interference.

Interior secretaries since the 1970s have recognized the need for
special protection in the Teshekpuk Lake area. But if the Bush administration
gets its way, Teshekpuk Lake will soon be stripped of most of those protections
and sold to the highest bidder.

And for what? Drilling in the Western Arctic would have no effect on gas
prices at the pump. Its oil would take years to get to market and would never
equal more than one or two percent of America's oil supply -- a tiny drop in
the bucket of our nation's oil consumption.

Only one group would benefit from destroying the Western Arctic: the oil
giants. Meanwhile, they would turn one of the planet's most fragile
homes for Arctic wildlife into an industrial zone of pipelines, producing wells
and contaminated waste sites.

The Western Arctic Reserve is supposed to be an energy savings account
of last resort. A recent poll shows that the vast majority of Americans would
rather save oil and lower gas prices by adopting tougher fuel economy standards
for our cars and trucks.

Please join me in telling the Bush administration to follow the cleaner
and more self-reliant path of fuel efficiency -- and to put Teshekpuk Lake
and other critical habitats off limits to the oil industry.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/t...tion.asp?RR0407 and tell the Bush administration to withdraw its destructive plan. And
remember to forward my message to your friends, colleagues and family.

This fight represents one of our very last chances to preserve
untrammeled wilderness as we first found it. Let's speak with one voice and stop
this senseless attack on one of the world's greatest sanctuaries for Arctic
wildlife.

[Individual]

Please tell me just how fucked up the ecosystem is around there, just how bad has the pipeline screwed it up?

Would you rather drill oil from out at sea?

How about off the coast of California, where it is there for all of us to see each day?

Should we drill for oil in populated areas?

Should we invade other countries in search of oil?

Or here is the most logical plan I bet you can come up with.. Should we stop using oil all togethor? Yeah, I bet that'd be a good idea.

It is a known fact that the caribou in fact flock to the pipelines.

Here's why: It keeps them warm, they like it.

Save the caribou eh? Please tell me just how many caribou deaths there have been due to the existing Alaskan pipeline.

[Sabocat]

Obviously, in a perfect world, the pipeline itself wouldn't create that much environmental impact. However, we don't live in a perfect world do we?

Exxon Valdez

On March 24, 1989, shortly after midnight, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil. The spill was the largest in U.S. history and tested the abilities of local, national, and industrial organizations to prepare for, and respond to, a disaster of such magnitude. Many factors complicated the cleanup efforts following the spill. The size of the spill and its remote location, accessible only by helicopter and boat, made government and industry efforts difficult and tested existing plans for dealing with such an event.

The spill posed threats to the delicate food chain that supports Prince William Sound's commercial fishing industry. Also in danger were ten million migratory shore birds and waterfowl, hundreds of sea otters, dozens of other species, such as harbor porpoises and sea lions, and several varieties of whales.

Guess where that oil in the tanker came from. So yes, the pipeline and drilling in and of itself doesn't represent much of a problem until there is an accident, which are fairly common. The equipment being used for the drilling, the damage it does to habitat while they're drilling and moving equipment around, any spills that occur during drilling and construction, the trash generated by the construction companies, etc, etc.