wfn.org | Energy bill could include wildlife refuge drilling, Washington office warns

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-201

Energy bill could include wildlife refuge drilling, Washington office warns

by Jan Nunley

     (ENS) An omnibus energy bill scheduled to come before the U.S. House of 
Representatives next week could include a provision authorizing drilling for oil 
or gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to the Episcopal 
Church's Office of Government Relations (OGR), based in Washington, DC.

     The office issued a strongly worded letter July 27 to members of Congress 
urging them to oppose efforts to include such authorization in the bill. As 
reported out by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the bill contains 
language that would allow for drilling in ANWR. 

     "We are encouraged that an amendment to strike drilling in ANWR may be 
allowed under the rule of an omnibus energy bill that is likely to be brought 
before the House for consideration next week," says the letter, signed by Thomas 
Hart, director of government relations for the Episcopal Church. "The Arctic 
Refuge is a national treasure and a wilderness sanctuary deserving of protection 
as an enduring legacy for future generations."

Historic connections with the church

     The involvement of the Episcopal Church on the ANWR issue stems from 
longstanding historic connections to the 7,000-member Gwich'in Nation of 
northeast Alaska and northwest Canada. Gwich'in communities have been almost 
totally Episcopalian since Anglican and subsequently Episcopal missionaries 
brought the Gospel more than 100 years ago. 

     For 10,000 years, the Gwich'in--whose name means "Caribou People"--have 
relied for subsistence on the Porcupine caribou herd, which in turn depends on 
the flatlands of the refuge area for an annual period of calving and nursing. But 
according to environmental biologists, oil and gas drilling would destroy the 
delicate balance of their arctic habitat. The ANWR is estimated to contain only 
six months' worth of the U.S. domestic consumption of oil. 

     The Episcopal Church's General Convention has gone on record opposing 
drilling in ANWR since the 1991 General Convention. In December 2000, Alaska 
bishop Mark MacDonald joined with clergy of his diocese's Interior Deanery to ask 
President Clinton for an eleventh-hour designation of ANWR as a national 
monument, closing it to oil exploration and development, but were unsuccessful. 
Three Episcopal priests were arrested in May along with other religious activists 
at a protest of the Bush administration's support for drilling in ANWR.

Irreparable harm

     Residents of the Inupiat village of Kaktovik, also located in the refuge, 
have expressed support for drilling in ANWR in the hopes it will boost their own 
economic development. But opponents point out that the Inupiat culture and 
sustenance is largely centered around marine ecosystems, not the migratory 
caribou.

      "Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would irreparably harm an irreplaceable wild 
area and negatively impact the lives and culture of an important indigenous 
people," Hart's letter concludes. "It is time for our nation to show both 
restraint and resourcefulness in finding positive policy solutions to our energy 
problems."

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of the Episcopal News Service.