I hate it when the politicians put the damned riders in spending bills. It's called "pork barrel" and sucks whether it buys things Lefties or Righties want. Here's an email I got from NRDC:
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
I am contacting you by email because the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is in imminent and grave danger. [snip: part asking for money]
The White House and its Senate allies are vowing to open the Arctic
Refuge to devastating oil development by tying its fate to a federal
budget bill within the next few weeks.
This back-door ploy is a blatant attempt to avoid a public debate and
an open vote on destroying one of our greatest natural treasures.
President Bush knows full well he might lose such a vote, as he did
just one year ago.
That's why Senate leaders will try to sneak through their Arctic-
drilling provision by attaching it to a "must-pass" budget bill,
making it very difficult for pro-environment Republican moderates to
vote no. Those moderates will be under tremendous pressure from the
White House to get in line with its "Drain America First" energy
plan -- especially during this time of impending war with Iraq.
Make no mistake: the vast majority of Americans oppose drilling in
the Arctic Refuge, even in the event of war or a cut-off of our
Middle East oil supply. But NRDC must move swiftly to alert and
organize that opposition -- before the U.S. Senate capitulates to the
White House and the oil lobby.
The Arctic Refuge is the only remaining piece of Alaska's spectacular
northern coast that is off-limits to the oil giants and thus belongs
solely to wildlife. This pristine wilderness is our nation's largest
denning site for pregnant polar bears and the only birthing ground
for the 180,000-member Porcupine caribou herd.
The oil giants would turn this extraordinary wildlife nursery into a
vast polluted oil field. What's more, destroying the Arctic Refuge
would do little or nothing to further America's energy independence.
Improving the fuel efficiency of our cars and SUVs would provide far
more energy than drilling in the Arctic Refuge -- and it would do so
more quickly, more cheaply and without destroying our natural
heritage.
Only one group will benefit from destroying the Arctic Refuge: the
oil giants. Everyone else loses. Our nation's last pristine arctic
wilderness will be polluted forever. Wildlife will suffer and die.
And consumers will remain dependent on a volatile oil market.
That's why sacrificing the Arctic Refuge for the profits of a few oil
titans is offensive to the majority of Americans of all parties.
And that's why I'm asking for your financial help to mobilize
millions of Americans for the approaching showdown in the U.S. Senate
over the fate of the Arctic Refuge.
[snip: more parts asking for money]
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)
. . .
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org