It might be important to note that a rider is supposed to be attached to = the budget bill tomorrow (Thursday) that would allow drilling.
The time to call Senator Coleman it TODAY!! Coleman's Washington D.C.phone number is 202-224-3121 and his district = number is 651-645-0323.=20 =20 You may call either office - he will get the message. Mark Martell Director of Bird Conservation Audubon Minnesota 2357 Ventura Drive #106 Woodbury, MN 55125 651/739-9332 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 11:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [mou] conservation Importance: High Many MOU members stated strong opinions to me re. oil drilling in the = ANWR. Those individuals may be interested in reading the statement below. It comes from Scott Hed of the Alaska Coalition. Randy Frederickson Conservation Com. >Please read the following alert and news article regarding the >last-minute arm-twisting that is going on to secure pro-drilling votes >in the Senate. > >Coleman is specifically listed as one of a few Senators that the White >House is pressuring to change their position. > >WE CANNOT LET HIM OFF THE HOOK! He has stated numerous times in the >press and in countless letters back to constituents that he remains >opposed to drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Now he'll have the chance to >prove it in his first vote on the issue, which is likely less than a >week away. > >Make the call yourself and ask your friends, family, and colleagues to >do the same. This is extremely important. > >Coleman's office numbers: > 202-224-5641 DC > 651-645-0323 St. Paul > >Scott Hed >Plains, Prairie & Northland Organizer >Alaska Coalition > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Deborah L. Williams [mailto:[email protected]] >Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 7:56 PM >Subject: Arctic Refuge At Risk!!! >Importance: High > >Dear Friends of the Arctic Refuge, > >The Refuge needs your help!! This is VERY serious. > >As you may know, the conservation community has been preparing for a >vote on the future of the Arctic Refuge in the context of the Budget >Resolution process. This is a very inappropriate legislative vehicle = to >address the Arctic Refuge, and is being used by the Administration and >others because it is a stealth tactic and because the budget resolution >cannot be filibustered in the Senate. > >The time for this vote is drawing near -- we expect it to occur next >Tuesday or Wednesday. > >Today, an e-mail, apparently from Senator Frist's office, said that the >pro-drilling advocates had 49 votes, and were working hard to get the >last vote. (They only need 50 to win.) > >We do not believe that they have 49 votes, but it is clear that we must >immediately communicate with all Senators -- especially Senator Pryor >(ARK), Coleman (MN), Smith (ORE), Specter (PA), and Lugar (IND) -- to >let them know that: > > -Our nation's extraordinary, irreplaceable Arctic National >Wildlife Refuge must not be destroyed for a mere 6 month's of oil, that >will not be available for 10 years; > --Congress should not, under any circumstances, put an issue as >important as the Arctic Refuge on a budget bill; > --Just last week the nation's leading scientists in a Report >ordered by Congress unanimously agreed that the cumulative impacts from >drilling in other parts of Alaska's North Slope have been significant >and adverse. > >I am attaching an AP story -- hot off the press -- that describes the >Frist e-mail in more detail. > >This Senate vote is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL. We cannot lose it. The Refuge >is truly at stake. Please call or e-mail your senators today and ask >them to oppose including any Arctic Refuge drilling provision in the >Budget Resolution, and please pass on this e-mail to friends and others >and ask them to call their senators too. > >Thank you, >Deborah > > > > >Bush Closer to Drilling in Arctic Refuge > >By H. JOSEF HEBERT >.c The Associated Press > >WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republicans say they have moved to within a >single >vote of guaranteeing President Bush one of his top domestic priorities = - > >opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. > >The issue could be decided as early as next week. > >An internal GOP memo that circulated Tuesday in the Senate expressed >confidence that 49 senators now plan to vote for drilling in the = refuge, > >starting a scramble in search of the remaining lawmaker who would be >needed >to get the provision through as part of a budget measure. > >``Dick Cheney has been working madly to secure the 50th (vote),'' said >the >staff memo developed in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Bill = Frist >of >Tennessee and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. > >The House is expected to have enough votes to pass the drilling >provision, >but House leaders are reluctant to take up the issue - and expose some >lawmakers to the politically sensitive vote - unless the Senate takes >the >lead, congressional sources said. > >The matter could be decided by one of four senators - two Republicans >and two >Democrats - who have been leaning toward the anti-drilling camp, but = who >GOP >leaders believe might be persuaded to shift sides, said sources from >both >parties speaking on condition of anonymity. > >The sources said Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both >of >Arkansas, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and freshman Sen. Norm Coleman, >R-Minn., >have been subjected to intense behind-the-scenes lobbying to join the >pro-drilling side. > >A spokeswoman for Coleman - who succeeded the late Paul Wellstone, a >strong >critic of drilling in the refuge - said she could not comment on the >memo or >Coleman's views on the refuge. Spokesmen for the other three could not >be >reached Tuesday evening. > >Singling out Coleman, Lincoln and Pryor by name, the GOP memo said, = ``We >need >to get calls in to those offices from constituents, and fast.'' > >Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Gale Norton called a half dozen interest >groups >- including farming and union interests - to her office and urged them >to go >to Capitol Hill and ``knock on doors and help sell the message'' on >Arctic >drilling to fence-sitting senators. > >Development of the millions of barrels of oil believed to be under the >coastal plain of the refuge in the far northeastern corner of Alaska = has >been >at the core of Bush's energy agenda. > >On the other hand, protecting the 100-mile-long sliver of tundra has >been an >obsession for environmentalists who insist that drilling will destroy >its >value as a sanctuary for polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and migratory >birds. > >Norton, in testimony before a House committee Wednesday, will reiterate >that >the refuge's oil can be developed ``while protecting the environmental >values >we all hold dear.'' In her prepared testimony, she calls the refuge's >coastal >plain ``the single greatest prospect for onshore oil and gas = development > >anyplace in the United States'' and says its development is essential >for >national security. > >In the last Congress, the House approved drilling in the refuge, but = the > >issue died in the Senate. Democrats, led by presidential aspirants = Sens. >Joe >Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts, vowed to >filibuster >any drilling proposal, meaning supporters would need 60 votes to get = the > >measure passed. > >Now that Republicans control the Senate, drilling advocates are >maneuvering >to include the provision in a budget resolution that is not subject to >filibuster. Once in the resolution, it will take drilling opponents 51 >votes >to get it out. Such a maneuver succeeded in getting the drilling >approved by >Congress in 1995, but President Clinton vetoed it. > >The Senate Budget Committee was expected to approve a resolution, >including a >drilling provision, this week. Senate floor debate is expected to begin >next >week and wrap up in April. Frist ``has called for accounting of 50 = votes >by >Wednesday,'' said the GOP staff memo. ``Today we have 49.'' > _______________________________________________ mou-net mailing list [email protected] http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net
