A broad coalition of grassroots conservation groups from across the country is organizing a new push in the fight to keep the Bush administration and oil corporations from opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, according to Drew McConville of The Wilderness Society.

Because of provisions included in the upcoming Budget Reconciliation Bill that will be voted on in late September, the vote on the Budget will be “the most critical vote on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that we have faced in 25 years,” McConville said. “We have to win.”

A special Arctic Refuge Action Day will be held September 20 in Washington, D.C., he said, where thousands of people will gather on the West Lawn of the Capitol and send the message to Congress that there are some places that are too special to ruin with oil drilling.

“As you know, this is a critical issue for Americans who care about conservation and a clean environment,” McConville said. “And as Tom Delay has said, it’s not just about drilling in Alaska, ‘It’s about precedent.’”

Sign-up page for Arctic Refuge Action day

Groups involved include the Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Fund, World Wildlife Fund, and others.

Theme: Don’t Drill, Storm Capitol Hill!
Name: Arctic Refuge Action Day
When: September 20, 2005 - 11 a.m.
Where: West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol

www.ArcticRefugeAction.org/takeaction/ARADay.html

Tags: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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