| Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
I wanted you to know that the Bush administration is using
the recent rise in gasoline prices as a pretext to sacrifice
one of America's greatest natural treasures -- the Western
Arctic Reserve of Alaska -- to massive oil development.
We have a very narrow window in which to block this corporate-sponsored
raid on our natural heritage. Over the next 30 days, the Bush
administration is taking public comments on its plan to put
96 percent of the reserve's wildlife-filled northeast region
on the auction block.
I am asking you and hundreds of thousands of others to join
me in flooding the Bush administration with messages of protest
over the next critical weeks.
Please do your part by going to http://www.savebiogems.org
and sending an electronic message telling the Bureau of Land
Management to withdraw its destructive plan and to permanently
protect the reserve's world-class wildlife habitats.
Then please forward my message to as many people as you can.
The Western Arctic Reserve may be less well-known than the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- which lies directly to
the east -- but its wildlife
populations are every bit as unique, spectacular and endangered.
I am especially concerned about the Western Arctic Reserve's
Teshekpuk Lake region -- one of the most important tundra-wetland
ecosystems left
on our planet. This vast network of coastal lagoons, deep
water lakes,
sedge grass meadows and braided streams provides the critical
calving grounds for the 45,000-member Teshekpuk Lake caribou
herd.
Thirty percent of all Pacific black brant also take refuge
in these safe and
remote wetlands, remaining flightless while they replace their
old feathers.
Steller's eiders, northern pintails, tundra swans and rare
yellow-billed loons
are just a few of the other amazing species that flock to
Teshekpuk Lake to nest, free from disturbance. Come fall,
some of these birds will migrate as far south as Antarctica.
Polar bears roam the coastal areas of Teshekpuk Lake from
summer to early
winter. And people are counting on the lake for survival as
well. The Inupiat Eskimos have subsisted here in balance with
nature for at least 8,000 years by following the herds of
caribou.
Incredibly, the Western Arctic has never been granted full
federal protection. That's because it was set aside
as the "National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska" nearly
a century ago. But Congress also stipulated that this oil
field be tapped only in time of dire national need.
Our government kept oil rigs out of the Western Arctic Reserve
even during the darkest days of World War II and the oil embargo
of the 1970s. As a
result, most of the reserve has remained pristine -- its primeval
beauty unmarred by roads, oil rigs or other signs of human
interference.
Interior secretaries since the 1970s have recognized the need
for special
protection in the Teshekpuk Lake area. But if the Bush administration
gets its way, Teshekpuk Lake will soon be stripped of most
of those
protections and sold to the highest bidder.
And for what? Drilling in the Western Arctic would have no
effect on gas prices at the pump. Its oil would take years
to get to market and would never equal more than one or two
percent of America's oil supply -- a tiny drop in the bucket
of our nation's oil consumption.
Only one group would benefit from destroying the Western Arctic:
the oil giants. Meanwhile, they would turn one of the planet's
most fragile homes
for Arctic wildlife into an industrial zone of pipelines,
producing wells and contaminated waste sites.
The Western Arctic Reserve is supposed to be an energy savings
account of last resort. A recent poll shows that the vast
majority of Americans
would rather save oil and lower gas prices by adopting tougher
fuel economy standards for our cars and trucks.
Please join me in telling the Bush administration to follow
the cleaner and more self-reliant path of fuel efficiency
-- and to put Teshekpuk Lake and
other critical habitats off limits to the oil industry.
Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org
and tell the Bush administration to withdraw its destructive
plan. And remember to forward my message to your friends,
colleagues and family.
This fight represents one of our very last chances to preserve
untrammeled wilderness as we first found it. Let's speak with
one voice and stop this senseless attack on one of the world's
greatest sanctuaries for Arctic wildlife. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Redford
Board of Trustees
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
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