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.