| Save the Western Artic!!! |
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Oil companies are fighting to get their hands on the
small amount of oil under |
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ConocoPhillips is one of two oil companies - along with BP
- that dominate Alaska's North Slope. The company is particularly
active on the western side of the North Slope, hundreds of miles from the
coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge but on the doorstep of the National
Petroleum Reserve Alaska, otherwise known as the Western Arctic. The Western Arctic's extensive network of wetlands supports world-class populations of golden eagles, peregrine falcons, and other birds of prey, along with millions of migratory waterfowl and shorebirds. Grizzly bears, wolves, caribou, and moose roam the foothills, beluga whales and spotted seals swim freely in icy coastal lagoons, and Arctic poppies and cotton grass dance in the wind. The Western Arctic is an area of stunning, untrammeled wilderness. The weight of scientific evidence points toward significant impacts on the wilderness if sensitive areas within the Western Arctic are opened for drilling, especially from industrial-scale oil and gas drilling and development. The current leasing plan for the Western Arctic proposed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management would allow oil companies to operate in unique and critical wetland habitat of Teshekpuk Lake. The lake is one of the single most important tundra-wetland complexes in the entire circumpolar Arctic. Teshekpuk Lake is heavily used for subsistence purposes, especially its caribou. Brant and other waterfowl that use the area are harvested for subsistence and sport in Alaska and throughout the Lower 48 states. On the eastern side of the North Slope is the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of America's last wild places. Caribou, muskoxen, wolves, polar, brown and black bears, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds rely on the wilderness habitat that the Refuge provides. The Gwich'in people, Alaska natives who live near the Refuge, depend on the caribou. For 20,000 years, their culture and way of life have been intimately bound up with the Porcupine River caribou herd. Juxtaposed against these wilderness values is the chance of finding little or no oil. At current rates of consumption, there is at best 6 months worth of oil in the Refuge. An analysis by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund - False Profits: The Business Case Against Drilling in the Arctic Refuge - makes the case that there is NO economically recoverable oil in the coastal plain of the Refuge. You can read the full report here: savetheartic.com |