The focus on drilling in the Arctic refuge has been a distraction from real energy solutions that would actually decrease our dependence on foreign sources, protect the environment, and help consumers. The U.S. has approximately three percent of the world's oil reserve but consumes 25 percent of the world's oil. We cannot drill our way out of dependence on foreign oil. Instead, Senator Kerry believes we must put America on the path towards energy independence by increasing energy conservation and creating clean, renewable sources of energy that no terrorist can sabotage and no foreign government can seize.

Drilling the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Nestled between the jagged peaks of the Brooks Range and the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the Coastal Plain -- just 5 percent of Alaska’s North Slope -- is the only fragment of America’s arctic coastline not already opened to oil exploration and drilling. The United States Geological Survey scientists estimate that there is very likely only enough oil under the Arctic Refuge to supply America’s needs for six months. And the oil companies themselves admit that the oil would not be available for at least ten years.


Why is the Arctic Refuge Worth Saving?

Such a broad spectrum of diverse habitats occurring within a single protected unit is unparalleled in North America. Blanketed with snow for much of the year, the Coastal Plain explodes with life during the brief spring and summer months, earning the nickname of "America’s Serengeti."

The Porcupine River herd of 129,000 caribou gathers annually on the Coastal Plain to bear and nurse their young; Polar bears rely on the Coastal Plain of the Refuge as their most important on-land denning habitat on American soil; Musk oxen, grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, foxes, golden eagles, and snowy owls gather here to hunt and den.
In the fall, the Coastal Plain of the Refuge supports up to 300,000 snow geese which detour to feed from their nesting grounds in Canada. Millions of other birds use the Arctic Refuge to nest and as a critical staging area before journeying through every state.


An Ancient People Depend On This Land

The Arctic Refuge supports more than just wildlife. For a thousand generations, the Gwich’in people of Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada have depended upon the Porcupine (River) caribou herd to sustain their culture. The herd is central to their way of life, providing food, clothing, and a critical link to their traditional ways. To the Gwich’in people, the Coastal Plain is sacred ground.



A Brief Look At the History of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 and expanded when President Jimmy Carter signed the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), America's Arctic Refuge has been one of the greatest conservation legacies of both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The Arctic Refuge was established to conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity; fulfill the international treaty obligations of the US with respect to fish and wildlife and their habitats; provide the opportunity for local residents to continue their subsistence way of life, and to protect water quality and quantity.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, today calls it "the only conservation system unit that protects, in an undisturbed condition, a complete spectrum of the arctic ecosystems in North America."