Posted on: Saturday, September 29, 2001

Editorial
Halt the stampede for Arctic drilling

Now in this time of national emergency, Congress must move wisely and quickly to implement measures that can't wait.

Congress "must focus on bipartisan, responsible approaches to a national energy policy which will in fact help us in the fight against terrorism," urged Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

That means lawmakers must refrain from cynical attempts to lard needed emergency legislation with measures that are too sensitive or controversial to pass without thorough public debate, and which threaten today's bipartisan spirit.

Proponents of opening the pristine wilderness of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploitation counsel haste because of the Sept. 11 attack on Manhattan and the Pentagon. That's nonsense, given that no new oil would be forthcoming for at least seven years and likely 10 years.

Thus it's unseemly that stealth drilling measures are being amended to the defense bill moving through the Senate.

The wildlife refuge is very nearly the last of our truly unspoiled wildernesses. The 1.5 million acres of the refuge that President Bush proposes to open to oil exploration has never seen a bulldozer. Once it's gone — it's gone.

And for what? Enough recoverable oil to supply the United States for six to nine months.

Clearly this is not a step the nation should take lightly, or without extensive, thoughtful debate. Above all, it's not a step that should be taken by stealth or in panic.