Arctic Wildlife Refuge

No matter how many times Congress tamps it down, the idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge seems to always springs back up. Now it's part of the newly minted "National Energy Security Act of 2000," a planned Senate amendment to the budget bill that covers appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Never mind that the Clinton administration, within the past year, opened up an additional 4 million acres for drilling elsewhere in Alaska. Never mind that ships haul 75,000 barrels a day of Alaskan oil to Asia. Never mind that the Federal Trade Commission, as it was reviewing the proposed BP Amoco-Atlantic Richfield merger, noted flat-out that BP ships Alaskan North Shore crude to Asia "to short the West Coast market and elevate prices."

No one in Michigan should expect that drilling in the Arctic refuge would make a nano-cent of difference at the pumps. And no one should try to use Americans' roaring appetite for gasoline as justification for roaring through the tranquil home of many of this continent's most impressive species.

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