Lest We Forget: Arctic Wildlife Refuge Still Needs Guarding

By Nancy Jacques, 4-18-06

I’ve been thinking lately that former Enron executives must be managing the national books. It’s as reasonable an explanation as any for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge becoming an answer to halving the nation’s $400 billion deficit by 2009.

Sure the House has dropped drilling the Arctic from their latest version of budget reconciliation, but not the Senate. They’ll likely attempt offsetting 2007 budget expenditures by using Coastal Plain (aka "1002 Area") oil leasing revenues at rates triple those used in the 2006 budget, which passed the House of Representatives days before this new slant on accounting was introduced. What a stroke of Enron-like genius: In an election year members of Congress won’t be voting again to drill; they’ll be promoting fiscal responsibility.

Politicos have tried for years to persuade us that drilling 1002 Area is a good thing. They’ve stretched and wrung dry promises of oil independence, national security, cheap gas prices and new jobs, giving rhetoric a bad name. Since the Reagan Era, legislation promoting drilling or preserving the Coastal Plain as wilderness has graced Congress’ hallowed chambers at least 80 times, not counting earmarks initiated at midnight. With Congress’ continued insistence upon pounding this issue into the rapidly melting ground, a budgetary angle should sound alarms, but our ears aren’t attuned.

In Southwest Colorado, where I live, write and grouse from, calls to Congress opposing Coastal Plain drilling last session ranked with the top three issues demanding staffers’ telephone time. This, when you think about it, has been tactically ingenious.

While the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains a well-documented biological treasure, perpetual struggles to preserve it have turned the region into a symbol of virtue for the public. It’s society’s proverbial line drawn in sand, or fast-fading ice in this case. The Arctic’s preservation seemingly signifies “hope,” or maybe it alleviates guilt for those fighting for limits to abuse while owning a couple of family cars, an SUV, leaf flower and three motorized recreational toys.

But for Congress the Coastal Plain serves as decoy. While we attempt to stave off refuge drilling, Washington blithely moves to ravage other pristine areas of the Arctic, like the Teshekpuk Lake region, and to cull last vestiges of unmarred landscapes outside the 49th state, all for mere drops of what’s called “Devil’s Tears.” Estimated oil supply in the Book Cliffs of Utah: 11 days. Roan Plateau of Colorado: 5.8 hours, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Hear alarms yet? Drilling isn’t about achieving supply; it’s about maintaining demand. We’re colluding.

You’d have to live in an oil rig hole not to know drilling the Arctic Refuge won’t quench this nation’s oily thirst. While Congress touts crude independence, it neglects to mention that, over the past 25 years, oil companies have paid $2.2 trillion in excise, state and federal corporate income taxes, and royalty payments. According to the Tax Foundation, this is three times what was earned in profits over the same period, adjusted for inflation. So, as the price of oil goes up with demand, so can all these revenues. A sweet deal, one for which Congress receives bonuses.

OPEC spent $13.3 million lobbying Washington between 2004-2005, according to the Center for Public Integrity. In 2003, U.S. energy companies spent $59.4 million lobbying on Capitol Hill. And in 2002 and 2004 election years, their generosity topped $29 million. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, $179.7 million has been gifted by oil companies to federal election campaigns, since 1989. Seventy-four percent of funds went to Republicans.

No sense wondering, then, why Congress refuses to raise mileage standards or use taxes on gasoline. Officials throw morsels at renewable energy endeavors to appease some constituents, but they ignore entirely the reality of global warming. With the Department of Interior’s forgetting ethics and law, altering scientific documents that confirm 1002 Area’s vulnerability, politicos can continue using the refuge for hope and diversion, sticking to myths that the Arctic means fuel independence.

But let’s not kid ourselves. Not only is President Bush and friends overjoyed with our oil addiction, I suspect my neighbors love the fact industry contributes over 60 percent of assessed property values in revenues to our oil-and-gas-rich county government so we don’t have to. I say never underestimate the power of codependency between consumers and all levels of government when it comes to money and maintaining the status quo.

Obviously opposition to drilling the Coastal Plain must continue. The slimy bookkeeping and criminally insane denial of problems our children will inherit demand we start someplace establishing limits. But the Arctic is also a plaintive reminder: If society is serious about drawing symbolic lines of virtue in political sands, not only does Washington need a serious overhaul, we must be willing to change. Beyond sentiment, will we alter habits and pay the real price for a healthy future?
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