STOP - Action on ANWR NOW

[sandnsea]

The Senate convenes on Monday to begin consideration of the 2006 Budget which contains a vote on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I have read reports that the vote is scheduled for Wednesday, and others say Tuesday. We will get that info and keep you updated. Senators to target are Landrieu LA, Inouye HI, Akaka HI, Smith OR, Chafee RI, Snowe ME, Collins ME, McCain ME, Coleman MN, DeWine OH. DeWine was just said on Thursday that he wasn’t happy about “ANWR being shoved back in there.” I also read an article that ads were being run in areas of Florida, attempting to target Martinez. So this is definitely within reach.

Send Fax and Place Call
Toll Free
1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894-5325)

Two Days. Just Two Days to Say Two Things

Democrats have not lost our voice and Bush HAS NO MANDATE.
America Demands Alternative, Renewable Energy

Talking Points & Links
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=540

LIKE:

“Bush said oil exploration can be limited to a 2,000-acre site”

[flpoljunkie]

1. Thanks, sandnsea. Most do not realize 2,000 acres will not be contiguous-

let alone the infracture and development that will be required for drilling in ANWR, and you can be assured, that the Republicans and their minions will continue to leave this fact out of their discussions on ANWR drilling.

[sandnsea]

2. I hunted for hours

I knew that had to be the case, they were manipulating the pipeline acreage. But it took me hours to find that map and I never did find an actual statement that explained how they were coming up with that 2,000 acres. I don't know why Arctic Refuge activists don't think those kind of details are important.

[Dr Ron]

5. Noncontiguous acres sure affects things

Plus the list of things which aren't included in the limitation.

[Dinger]

3. What Do You Think Of This Idea?

My 4th grade class is reading a book about a teacher in 1948 Alaska (The Year of Miss Agnes). What if I share this graphic, along with a brief, but powerful video of the pristine wilderness that is Alaska? Then I have the kids write their opinion, and give reasons to support it?


Only one problem . . . If the vote is Wednesday, can I Federal Express this? If so, what is the address to use? A Fax number??

This could be a great lesson, and I CAN put it together tonight.

Your thoughts are very welcome!:)

[southpaw]

4. Go for it!

It will be a tight deadline, but you can probably get it done!!!

[kerrygoddess]

6. There are fax numbers

on nearly every Senator's contact page.

Great idea!

[sandnsea]

7. Please tell your kids

44% of US oil consumption is cars and light trucks. We can reduce oil consumption, which will reduce gas prices, with 40 MPG CAFE standards and that will do more than drilling in ANWR will ever accomplish. That is so important for kids to understand, there are alternatives. The choice we're making is pollution vs. alternative, renewable energy.

I think the practical angle is important too. There's some other info in the link that dispels some of the right wing blather too.

Thank you so so much for what you're willing to do.

[Dinger]

9. I'll Work On An Outline & Post It Tonight (nt)

[kerrygoddess]

16. All the talking points you need

for your outline are right here - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=540

[Dinger]

26. Here It Is:

Since my time is limited, here is the basic outliune of what I will do for my lesson regarding the ANWR proposal:

I. Intro & background on ANWR (I took the fact sheets from this thread &
re-wrote it to a 4th grade reading level (evfen though I have some who
read beyond that). - 15 minutes
II. Go to computer lab and watch the slideshow (linked on this thread). I
have it bookmarked on each computer, to save time. - 10 minutes
III. Watch edited (for time) video on Alaska, and some taping I had on
ANWR, and effects of drilling on wildlife, people, land, etc. - 10 minutes
IV. Have discussion on the vote coming up tomorrow, and how they feel
about drilling for oil in ANWR. - 5 minutes
V. Explain about writing an opinion letter. Tell students they will be writing
to their senators about this issue, and that I will fax it to senators Feingold
and Kohl. I will provide a writing outline to the kids. They will write a
"rough copy, and then a final copy. - 30 minutes


I may have to split this up betweeen Language, Social Studies, and Science.
That way it isn't too much at once. I know this is rushed, but it's the best I
could do at the last minute. It does, coincidentally, relate to several things
we are studying right now.

[Leilani]

19. You are certainly correct about CAFE standards

A few years ago, Kerry & McCain cosponserd a CAFE bill, raising standards very gradually. (It may have been an amendment to an Energy bill.)

Unfortunately, it was defeated by by a coalition of special interests, including some Dems, Carl Levin, among them, looking out for the automakers. Don't remember the others...maybe Breaux & Landreau? I was really disappointed that they didn't get more support.

[salin]

8. Hmmm.... does this suggest defeat of the energy bill?

(as in they won't push for it this session) - this was used as the big bargaining chip ... keep it in the bill in order to use it to leverage all sorts of additional vile things (eg they keep the rest of the abominations in, and agree to take ANWR off the table.) Or perhaps this shows their hubris - that they think they no longer need a bargaining chip to get their badboybill through. However, then why not just keep Anwr in the bill that Cheney has been trying to get through since the first days he stepped into the White House?

[sandnsea]

11. It's in the Budget

Not the Energy Bill, at this time. It can't be filibustered which is why taking action is even more important. We've got to get 51 votes.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=540

[salin]

12. That is my point... taking it out of the Energy bill

says something about the strategy per the energy bill (cheney and bush's big promise to their oil/energy industry sponsors). I find it very interesting that it has been yanked out of the Energy Bill and put into the budget. My previous post just jumped to speculating about what that might mean...

[sandnsea]

13. Oh

:dunce:

I was really wondering. I would have figured you were right on top of this, and aren't the type to totally gloss over posts either.

So it were me. Sorry.

[salin]

14. hehe

I am not able to stay on top of these issues to the degree I used to be able to do so - however I try to keep things on the radar screen. I hadn't realized that they slipped ANWR into the budget until your post (thank you)... I just jumped the gun on speculating about what that move might mean per the En. Bill.

Thanks for raising awareness on this.

[flpoljunkie]

10. Link to NRDC slideshow showing beauty of ANWR and horrors of drilling!

http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic/1.html

[JI7]

15. kick

[Mass]

17. Act now

Call those senators whose votes can be swayed so that act.

[doodadem]

18. Sign Barbara Boxer's Petition to Frist on ANWAR

http://ga4.org/campaign/boxer_anwr/3k8unw49jk7b8k
(Letter from Barbara Boxer)
Every day on the Senate floor is more and more like "Barbara in Wonderland." Sometimes the Senate seems so foreign to me, I wonder if I'm living in some kind of bad dream. And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it has.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Read on to learn more about this week's Senate Republican scheme to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling -- and then reject these radical efforts by signing my petition to Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week, the Senate debated and passed a horrible new bankruptcy bill -- a sweetheart deal providing a huge financial windfall to big credit card companies while punishing the lower-income Americans these companies prey upon. I thought for sure when I offered a common-sense amendment that would place a modicum of responsibility on these credit card companies it would surely pass. Well... it didn't. Imagine voting against this:
My amendment proposed that if a credit card company gives a seventh credit card to a person under age 21; a person with below poverty-level income; without the credit card company asking for a co-signer -- then the bankrupcy judge should take into consideration the fact that the credit card company should have known better if that young person files for bankruptcy.
My amendment wouldn't automatically exonerate that young person, mind you. It just said that the judge should be able to take these circumstances into account during the bankruptcy process. Seems to make sense, right?
Well we only got forty votes on my common-sense amendment. And unfortunately, this is the way it's going. The American people and their interest come in FAR behind the powerful special interests.

Now we face the ultimate special interest issue: Drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. For six months of oil, not to be realized for ten years, my colleagues seem bent on handing over this most pristine land to the big oil companies. Never mind that we can save the equivalent of an infinite number of ANWR fields by simply raising fuel economy a modest amount -- that doesn't matter. The Republicans don't care about the native peoples whose lives will be ruined; they don't care that President Eisenhower set this land aside; they don't care about the more than one hundred species of wildlife that depend on this refuge.
What they do care about is the precedent. If they open up ANWR, they'll think they can do anything to the environment -- anything at all. Drilling in Yosemite? In the Grand Canyon? What's next?
Stand with me and reject any attempts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling -- sign my petition today!
I urgently need your help. Last week, the Republican leadership snuck a provision into the Budget bill that moves us one step closer to opening ANWR to drilling. It's a sneaky way of trying to get what they want without having to vote on it directly.

We can't let that happen! I urge you to sign my new petition to Republican Leader Bill Frist -- tell him that any Republicans who vote to open up the Alaska wilderness to oil drilling will pay a price in the next election. The Budget bill with this terrible ANWR provision will be up for a vote in the Senate by the end of the week. Let the Republican leadership know that we won't forget the votes they cast.

Sign my petition to Bill Frist today -- stand firm against Republican efforts to open up ANWR!
I need you now more than ever. Please stand with me on this critical issue.

In Friendship,
Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator

P.S. Thanks to the more than 14,000 of you who contacted your Members of Congress in support of the Count Every Vote Act last month! I'll keep you posted on our progress with this important election reform legislation in the coming weeks.

[Idioteque]

20. I don't think we have to worry about Chafee, Snowe, Collins, or McCain

As for Martinez, he is opposed to drilling off the coast of Florida. He says that he is undecided on ANWR. He would look very hypocritical to support drilling in ANWR but not in FL. Martinez was a Democrat until 1996, I think if enough pressure is put on him, he will stand with us.

Btw, Ted "Crybaby" Stevens is going to be on the Senate floor tonight around 8:30 whining about about ANWR. Get ready for a sobfest :P.

[sandnsea]

22. Or Smith

His office said he won't vote for drilling. I think he'll probably stick to it, Oregon would be alot harder for him to win if he didnt.

[paineinthearse]

21. See ANWR appeal from Senator Boxer

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1659364&mesg_id=1659364

[Mass]

23. Coleman votes NO to the drilling in Artic National Wildlife Refuge

Let's hope that many other will follow and that no Democrats will defect.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5292459.html

Facing this week's Senate showdown on oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., says he will stay in the anti-drilling camp.

[sandnsea]

24. Landrieu, Akaka and Inouye

It's nice that these Repubs are sticking to their guns, especially since the thing will fail if we don't get 2 more votes. I'm counting 7 R, 41 D, and Jeffords. I'm guessing Jeffords. I hope somebody moves soon. It's so stupid to be in this position because of gas guzzling vehicles.

[kerrygoddess]

25. Kerry, Cantwell Join to Fight Arctic Drilling

The fight is on to save the Arctic Refuge. John Kerry’s Senate website just released a press release regarding a press conference tomorrow with Senator Cantwell to announce the Cantwell-Kerry amendment:

Washington, D.C. - Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) will be joined by colleagues and supporters as they announce their plans to introduce a budget amendment in opposition to efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at a Capitol Hill press conference tomorrow - Tuesday, March 15.

The Cantwell-Kerry amendment rids the budget of language that opens ANWR to drilling. Kerry and Cantwell are leading the charge to protect this valuable natural refuge, and supporters and colleagues will share their views on this important fight.

WHAT: John Kerry and Maria Cantwell announce budget amendment to block arctic drilling

WHO: Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Savannah Rose Walters, 13 year old girl from Florida who is fighting to save the Arctic Refuge, Bishop Mark McDonald from Alaska, Other colleagues and supporters

WHEN: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 11:00 a.m. WHERE: Russell Senate Office Building Russell Caucus Room (Room 325)

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=544

[NVMojo]

27. we must stop the neocon rape of our country, our lives, our wallets!

We need your help right now to stop oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge before it's too late!

President Bush and his pro-drilling allies in Congress are using a sneaky backdoor trick to pass their controversial proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by inserting it in the must-pass federal budget bill. But Sen. Maria Cantwell from Washington State has proposed an amendment to strip Arctic drilling language from the federal budget.

Click here now to keep keep the Arctic Refuge free from drilling -- Tell your Senators to vote for the Cantwell Amendment.
Then call their offices at 1-888-894-5325 to reinforce your message.
Using the budget to open the Arctic Refuge is a sneaky backdoor trick to avoid democratic debate on this critical issue. Senator Cantwell's amendment will prevent such budget trickery.


There is no time to waste; a vote on the Senate floor will take place as early as TODAY. It's very important that your Senators hear from as many constituents as possible.

Click here now to keep keep the Arctic Refuge free from drilling --

http://capwiz.com/lcv/alert7091131.html

Tell your Senators to vote for the Cantwell Amendment.
Then call their offices at 1-888-894-5325 to reinforce your message.
A lot is riding on this decision. This incomparable wilderness is home to more than 250 animal species, including wolves, grizzlies, caribou, and millions of migrating birds. Unfortunately, it is also the target of an intense, relentless lobbying campaign by the oil industry.

We need you to help make some noise! If we can draw enough attention to this issue, we can stop oil industry allies in Congress from getting away with this attempt to slip Arctic drilling into the budget bill.

Click here now to keep keep the Arctic Refuge free from drilling --

http://capwiz.com/lcv/alert7091131.html

Tell your Senators to vote for the Cantwell Amendment.
Then call their offices at 1-888-894-5325 to reinforce your message.
Sincerely,

Betsy Loyless and the LCV Policy Team