Arctic Folly By Jimmy Carter

Congress is about to make one

of those big decisions that marks an era. Unless wiser heads prevail, it may do it badly — making the wrong decision in the wrong way

and about the wrong place. At stake is America’s greatest wildlife sanctuary, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. To dissuade

Congress from this environmental tragedy, Americans must rally, and quickly. …

[T]he White House and Big Oil are

pressuring Congress to allow drilling rigs to rip into the ecological heart of America’s preeminent wildlife sanctuary. We must not

confuse this with Prudhoe Bay, which lies west of the Arctic refuge and is already an industrial landscape resembling Houston more than

Yellowstone. …

We cannot drill our way to energy security or lower gasoline prices as long as our nation sits on just 3 percent

of world oil reserves yet accounts for 25 percent of all oil consumption. An obvious answer is to increase the fuel efficiency of motor

vehicles, at least to the level we set more than a quarter-century ago. …

[C]onservation-minded Americans must ask our elected

representatives to vote down any final budget reconciliation bill that would allow the sacrifice of our Arctic sanctuary.

Now is the time to speak up for the ecological integrity of this unsurpassed 18-million-acre wilderness. Many

Americans will be in Washington on Sept. 20 for the Arctic Refuge Action Day rally on the Mall and to contact congressional

representatives personally.

If we are not wise enough to protect the Arctic refuge, future generations will condemn

us for needlessly sacrificing the wilderness of their world to feed our profligate, short-term and shortsighted energy habit.

The pathway to a better, more sustainable energy future does not wind through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.