Believer

Protect the Arctic Refuge -- Permanently! Help win permanent protections for one of the most onshore denning habitats for our last remaining polar bears. Tell your Senators reject to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and support permanent protections for this special place.  Increase your impact -- forward this message on to others who care about our wildlife and wild places.

Dear Monica,

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been called America’s Serengeti -- a special place that’s home to caribou, snow fox and millions of migratory birds. It is also one of the most important onshore denning habitats for America’s struggling polar bears.

Now this special place is under renewed attack by Congress and the Bush/Cheney Administration.

Take action now -- tell your Senators to reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and support permanent protections for this special place.

As polar bears struggle to survive, the Bush/Cheney Administration has delayed meaningful action to protect these special creatures while selling drilling rights in vital habitat off Alaska’s coast to Big Oil.

Worse, polar bears and other Arctic wildlife are now facing a double-barreled threat from Congress and the Bush/Cheney Administration.

President Bush has included Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling in his budget. And Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have introduced legislation to link drilling plans to gas prices -- despite federal estimates that such drilling would do next to nothing to reduce gas prices.

But these drilling plans would spell disaster for our already struggling polar bears and other wildlife that depend on the Refuge for survival, while increasing our dependence on dirty fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

However, thanks to a bipartisan effort, the Arctic Refuge could be protected permanently. Legislation sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman would set aside the coastal plain of the Refuge -- the biological heart of the Refuge -- designating it as a wilderness area and shielding this special place from Big Oil’s grasp.

Tell your Senators to support legislation to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (S. 2316) and to reject attempts to allow Big Oil’s drills in this national treasure.

This legislation is all the more important as our polar bears struggle to survive. Without these permanent protections, Big Oil could one day be allowed to industrialize one of the few remaining homes for America’s great white bears.

Please write your Senators now and tell them it’s time to reject Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling and protect this national treasure from Big Oil -- forever.

Thank you for all you do to protect wildlife and wild places.

Sincerely, Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife