[The Senate Wednesday voted 52-48 in favor of an amendment cosponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to strip language from the 2004 budget bill intended to allow further oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  Leahy has long opposed opening ANWR to oil drilling.  More details about ANWR are available on Leahy’s website at http://leahy.senate.gov/issues/environment/anwr.html]

Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
March 19, 2003

Mr. President, the Senate soon will have the opportunity to support an amendment to remove the proposal to increase oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the budget reconciliation bill.  By tucking away this proposal into the energy section of the reconciliation bill, proponents of this provision would smother the open debate the American public deserves on such a significant and contentious national issue.

Just last Friday, on March 14^th, we celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the creation of the nation’s first federal bird reserve on Pelican Island, the predecessor of today’s refuge system.  Today we are debating whether to allow further drilling in the fragile arctic environment, for reasons that do not add up to justify such a step.   

Consider how far we have come since President Theodore Roosevelt had the vision to set aside the five-acre Pelican Island – a small thicket of mangroves off the east coast of Florida – to a system that today totals more than 95 million acres consisting of 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas.  The National Wildlife Refuge System hosts 35,000,000 visitors annually, with the help of 30,000 volunteers.  It is home to wildlife of almost every variety in every state of the union, and some part or parts of the system are within an hour's drive of almost every major city.  It would be unwise to sanction the degradation of one of the crown jewels of our refuge system – the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Administration argues that allowing an increase in drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge would be an integral part of alleviating the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.  In reality, drilling in the Arctic refuge would only provide the equivalent of what the United States consumes in six months.  Nor would this provision amount to any increase in oil production for at least a decade, or truly enhance our energy security, or lower prices for consumers, or create a significant number of new long-term jobs.

Furthermore, 95 percent of the potential oil reserves of Alaska's North Slope are already designated for potential leasing or open to exploration and drilling.  The last five percent -- the coastal plain of the Arctic refuge -- is the only wild stretch of the coast of Alaska's North Slope that remains off limits. 

What are the tradeoffs?  According to a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report issued just last month, the impacts of current activity already adversely impacted numerous wildlife species in the Arctic refuge.  The NAS documented displacement to the fall migration patterns of Bowhead whales due to noise associated from seismic exploration and cited an increased number of predators which adversely affects the reproduction rates in migratory and resident birds, as well as the migration pattern and reproduction rates of one of the greatest caribou herds in North America.  The NAS study concluded that expanding oil and gas exploration into the surrounding refuge lands would result in further degradation of soils, vegetation and aquatic systems in this fragile environment.

Protecting this refuge is our obligation as stewards of this land.  As President Theodore Roosevelt, the creator of the refuge system, said: "wild beasts and birds are by right not the property merely of the people who are alive today, but the property of unknown generations, whose belongings we have no right to squander."  Sanctioning these incursions not only would damage the environment today, but it would take away those tangible and inherent values the refuge will provide to future generations – our children and grandchildren.

Last Thursday, March 13^th, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution marking the Centennial Anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System.  This week, we have the opportunity to follow that symbolism with a more tangible step in defense of our refuge system, by voting to remove the rider on ANWR oil and gas exploration from the budget reconciliation bill.

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