Presaging Key Debate in Natural Resources Committee, Markey Introduces Bill to Protect Arctic Refuge

Presaging the coming debate in the Natural Resources Committee over the expansion of dangerous drilling practices into America's last pristine public lands, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today re-introduced his Arctic Wilderness Act to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area.

"If we don't enact permanent protections for the Refuge, oil companies and their allies in Congress will continue to push for short-sighted plans to drill our last pristine wild places," said Rep. Markey, who is the Ranking Democratic Member on the Natural Resources Committee. "Rather than drilling in the Arctic Refuge, we should be using safer, cleaner forms of energy made here in America to create a refuge from foreign oil."

There are still concerns about the oil industry's capacity to respond to a spill, following the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster this summer, which spilled more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Recent studies indicate that responding to a spill in colder environments like the Arctic would be much more difficult and less effective.

Rep. Markey's bill, which he has introduced in every session of Congress since 2001, would designate the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area.

"When we look upon the Refuge decades from now, will we see a monument to America's commitment to our natural heritage, or will we see the abandoned wells and spilled oil as a monument to our insatiable thirst for oil?" posited Rep. Markey. "Will the Refuge remain a monument to America's wisdom or will our children and grandchildren only be able to see polar bears, caribou and other iconic animals carved in stone, monuments to our lack of foresight and innovation?"