ARCHIVED ARTICLES:
Interior Secretary Gale Norton wants the American public to trust her. But in recent testimony before a Senate committee, Sec. Norton omitted U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service(FWS) data showing that caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could be affected by oil drilling there -- data that she had asked her staff to provide -- and she added erroneous data in support of her position.
DISTORTING THE FACTS
At its heart, the issue of drilling for oil in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge is about trust. But Secretary Norton's own actions
undermine her standing to ask for that trust.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) broke the story, detailing the error and omissions. For instance:
**FWS: "There have been PCH [Porcupine Caribou Herd] calving
concentrations within the 1002 area for 27 out of 30 years"
**Norton: "Concentrated calving occurred primarily *outside* of the
1002 Area [Arctic Refuge coastal plain] in 11 of the last 18 years."
(emphasis added -- the word "outside" was substituted for "inside").
**Norton: "Surveys indicate that no calving occurred in the 1002 area
in 2001."
**FWS: Did not include 2001 data, as surveys had yet to be conducted.
**Norton: "There is no evidence that the seismic exploration
activities or the drilling of ... [an] exploratory well on Native
lands have had any significant negative impact on the Porcupine
caribou herd."
**FWS disclaimer omitted: "No studies were conducted to determine the
effects of the above activities on the PCH."
THE OTHER FOLKS WE'RE SUPPOSED TO TRUST
The oil companies and their supporters in Congress and the
administration want the public to believe that they can drill in this
pristine wilderness without harming the environment.
**But from 1996 to 2000, those same oil companies spilled 1.3 million gallons of oil and other toxic chemicals on Alaska's North Slope.
**The industry has pointed to the Endicott oil field near Prudhoe Bay as an industry model for the type of drilling that occurs on the North Slope and for the type of field that should be developed in the Refuge. Yet, even while lawmakers were praising this oil field, British Petroleum and its subcontractor were illegally dumping hazardous waste at the site -- a crime they later admitted to and for which they were fined $22 million.
IT GETS BETTER
Likewise, pro-drilling lawmakers have asked for our trust. But
they've continued to use erroneous and misleading information to
buttress their arguments in favor of drilling:
**They've wildly overstated the amount of oil that would likely be recovered from the refuge and the number of jobs that could be created from such drilling.
**Lately, they've overstated the amount of oil we import from the Persian Gulf and the contribution that oil from the refuge could make in reducing our oil imports. This is a manipulative effort to capitalize on the terrorist actions of September 11 and America's war on terrorism.
TAKE ACTION
More and more newspapers are picking up on this pro-oil campaign of
misrepresentations. Let them know how you feel! Send a letter to the
editor of your local paper and tell them:
- Sec. Norton wants us to trust her when it comes to oil drilling on our public lands. But she's misleading Congress and the public about oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge, by omitting scientific data and presenting false facts in congressional testimony.
- Sec. Norton and pro-oil politicians are wildly overstating how much oil we can get from the Refuge, how many jobs it can create, and how much oil we import from the Persian Gulf. It's disingenuous, not to mention a cynical manipulation of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
- Big oil companies talk of environmentally sound oil drilling, while they've spent the last few years dumping millions of gallons of oil and other toxics in Alaska's North Slope.
- Sec. Norton and her big oil allies haven't given us the straight facts up to now. Why should we trust them on all their wild promises for the future?
FOR MORE INFORMATION
PEER press release detailing omissions/errors
www.peer.org/press/190.html(includes links to original FWS and Norton documents)
PEER comparison of FWS and Norton statements www.peer.org/alaska/Norton_comparison.html
Washington Post article
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles
Foreign Oil:
Our dependence on foreign oil is well known. the U.S. currently consumes about 25% of the world's annual oil production, but holds only about 3% of the world's known reserves. Most of this oil is used for cars and trucks. However, the use of oil for home heating is prevalent throughout the Northeastern U.S. In addition, burning oil generates 8% of our country's electricity.
Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective method of reducing dependence on foreign oil. According to the American Council on an Energy Efficient Economy, for every dollar that is invested in efficiency, our economy sees a return of one dollar and eighty cents. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, increasing the average vehicle efficiency to 39 mpg would reduce oil usage by as much as 1.3 billion barrels per year.
Domestic drilling is not an effective way to develop energy independence. The proposal to drill in the Arctic Refuge has highlighted this issue. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the amount of oil that is economically retrievable from the area is roughly equal to what the U.S. uses in about six months. Furthermore, if we began drilling today, the oil would still not be available for use until about 2010 (see graph). Renewable energy is local energy, and therefore inherently reduces dependence on foreign oil.
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