The Bush administration is renewing its attempt to sacrifice the
fragile Teshekpuk Lake region of Alaska's Western Arctic Reserve
to oil and gas drilling.
We need your immediate help to block this assault, which would
allow drilling in one of the most sensitive and important Arctic
wildlife habitats as early as next summer.
Go to
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_westernarctic_0711
right away and tell the Bush administration to safeguard the
entire Teshekpuk Lake region -- an area protected by four
previous administrations due to its extraordinary importance to
wildlife.
Eight-seven percent of the northeastern portion of the Western
Arctic Reserve has already been handed over to the oil industry.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration announced a plan two years
ago to lease every last acre of the fragile Teshekpuk Lake area
-- defying more than 200,000 citizen comments, warnings from
biologists and wildlife managers and objections from Alaska
Natives on the North Slope.
In response, NRDC and our partners went to court and won a
temporary injunction that halted the lease sale just days before
it was due to take place. In the wake of that legal setback, the
Bush administration conducted an additional review of the
environmental impacts of oil and gas development, but has now
resumed its push for leasing.
Thanks to our courtroom victory, the Bush administration must
seek public comment before moving forward with its latest
proposal to sacrifice the calving grounds of the 45,000-animal
Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd. This region also provides a refuge
for tens of thousands of molting geese and threatened birds like
the spectacled eider and yellow-billed loon.
Please go to
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_westernarctic_0711
and speak out in defense of this priceless wildlife sanctuary.
Thank you for helping to protect America's Arctic from reckless
industrialization.
