Budget Will Trample the Arctic, Unless We Trample It

This Thursday, April 28, we'll probably see votes in the Senate and the House on the federal budget - a budget that currently contains a provision that would allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

U.S. PIRG has set up a free number that you can use to call where you'll be directly connected to your representative or senator's office, depending on which is a more important target. Please call now, and then email a link to this page to three friends or family members so we can generate as many calls as possible.

Here's the number: 1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894-5325)

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It's not just the Arctic Refuge at stake in this budget battle. If drilling in the Arctic Refuge is allowed, pristine, untrammeled lands like Arches National Park and offshore areas like Florida's coast could all be at risk. House Majority leader Tom Delay said it best when he said about Arctic drilling that "It's about precedent." One of President Bush's major supporters, Houston energy industry investment banker Matthew R. Simmons, said, "If you can't do ANWR, you'll never be able to drill in the promising areas."

We are tantalizingly close to stopping this budget and stopping the oil industry's plans to turn America's pristine public lands into spider webs of oil rigs, roads, and pollution. Just four votes are needed in the House of Representatives and just two votes in the Senate.