SAVE THE ARCTIC—The coastal plain is the only area along Alaska’s entire North Slope that is not open to oil and gas drilling. The Bush administration, ExxonMobil and their allies in Congress are trying to open it to oil drilling by any means possible.

The prospect of drilling for oil in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is now closer than ever to becoming a reality, but the fight isn’t over yet.

By a razor thin margin, on March 16, the U.S. Senate voted to include Arctic-drilling language in the federal budget.

Despite urging from members of his own party not to, Senate Budget Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) chose to include Arctic drilling revenues in the budget that went to the Senate floor.

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) offered an amendment to strike the Arctic Refuge from the budget, but it was defeated 49 to 51.

Florida’s two senators split their vote. Sen. Nelson voted to protect the wildlife refuge from drilling, and Sen. Martinez voted to open the area to oil drilling.

“This fight is not over—we still have a strong chance of winning,” says PIRG’s Arctic Campaign Director Athan Manuel. “The Senate budget vote was an early round of a 12 round bout—and we’ve won before.”

Battle For The Budget
The House budget that passed recently is very different from the Senate’s version, and it does not include Arctic-drilling language.

A conference committee will have to work out the differences. Once the committee resolves them, both the House and the Senate will have to vote on the resulting bill.

Manuel expects at least four more votes on drilling in the Arctic Refuge–– one in each chamber on the conference committee report and then on the fi nal budget reconciliation (reconciliation is the last step in the budget process). The state PIRGs will be lining up legislative support in the coming weeks to counter the pro-drilling lobby.

“Fifty-one senators ignored two key facts about the Arctic,” said Manuel. “First, the American public supports protecting the Refuge. Second, revenue projections from drilling in the Arctic Refuge are wildly speculative. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there is probably enough oil in the Arctic Refuge to last the United States for less than a year.”

Oil Companies Back Away
A March article in The New York Times pointed out that major oil companies are not interested in drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

BP and ConocoPhillips have also left Arctic Power, the lobbying group funded by the oil industry and the state of Alaska—due in part to advocacy by the state PIRGs.

Since 1998, a PIRG-founded coalition of environmental groups and socially responsible investors have pushed BP and ConocoPhillips to stay out of the Arctic Refuge.

The campaign has fi led shareholder resolutions, held protests in front of gas stations, written reports on the oil industry, and generated more than 80,000 e-mails, phone calls, and letters to the companies.

Across the country, PIRG fi eld organizers and citizen volunteers have also held house parties to show the documentary, “Oil on Ice,” in local communities.

While Manuel worked with coalition partners and senators in Washington, D.C., to try to secure the votes needed to defeat the drilling provisions in the Senate budget, Florida PIRG Field Director Holly Binns mobilized constituents to take action.

While these efforts didn’t tip the Senate vote, the momentum created will have a signifi cant and lasting impact on the battle ahead.