Senator Durbin Statement on Protecting ANWR

Durbin Statement on Protecting ANWR

March 19, 2003

[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today issued the following statement regarding the need to protect the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling:

"Despite what drilling proponents may tell you, the road to a balanced energy plan does not run through the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.

"Under even the most optimistic assumptions, the Arctic coastal plain would yield only six month's worth of oil for our country - and even that only 10 years down the line. There are better, longer-term solutions to our energy crisis than drilling in our few remaining frontier areas.

"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil from the Middle East, with all of its instability, our efforts would be better targeted toward exploring alternative sources of energy, such as fuel cells, and by making automobiles more fuel efficient.
The single most important thing we can do to decrease our dependence on foreign oil is to increase our fuel economy - something Congress has not done since 1975. For example, an increase to 40 miles per gallon by 2015 would yield a cumulative oil savings of about 95 billion gallons, dwarfing the potential yield from the Arctic Refuge.

"Earlier this month, the National Academy of Sciences released a new report that confirmed what we already knew: oil and gas activities on Alaska's North Slope have a detrimental effect on the precious wildlife and habitat there. Species
population decline is already common in industrial areas in the North Slope, and unless major changes occur, the report concludes, it is unlikely that most disturbed habitat on the North Slope will ever be restored.

"Bottom line: Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is bad policy. The Senate has said so in the past, and it should do so again today. Authorizing drilling in one of our last frontiers would be an act of desperation, not of careful, sound policy making."