Wednesday's the day to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It looks like the only way to stop Senator Ted Stevens's backdoor sneak attack on the Refuge is through a filibuster by Senate Democrats and a few allied Republicans who care about the environment.
The prospect of a close vote has so scared the White House that NPR and the New York Times are reporting that Dick "Dick" Cheney is cutting short his trip to Pakistan and returning to Washington tonight. His vote would break a tie in the Senate on procedural votes leading up to a filibuster vote.
Please look at the Alert from the Alaska Wilderness League after the flip, and use the links to call your Senator.
Senator Stevens Threatens Defense Spending Bill Over Arctic Drilling!!
Unable to pass his Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling plan in any other way, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) is now holding the Defense spending bill hostage in order to force his controversial drilling legislation through Congress. "We've agreed to put [Arctic drilling] on [the Defense bill] so we'll just have to wait and see what's going to happen," Stevens told reporters last week.
The vote is expected as early as 10am, on Wednesday, December 21!
As disingenuous as it was to consider Arctic drilling in budget reconciliation, it would be indefensible to force a delay in passage of funding for our troops on the ground in Iraq . In addition, the Defense Appropriations bill has other important provisions that should not be held up by a desperate scheme to force controversial Arctic Refuge drilling.
This Arctic drilling proposal has no business in the Defense Appropriations bill. It is a cynical, politically-motivated scheme to hijack important national policy priorities for the sake of a narrow, special-interest agendas that has otherwise failed to pass muster in this Congress.
It would be a national disgrace to consider forever spoiling this national treasure while our nation remains at war, especially in the context of legislation that is supposed to support our men and women in uniform.
This is an all hands on deck alert! If you haven't called your Senator yet, please do so now! We need EVERYONE who receives this email to call your Senator if you haven't yet and express your strongest outrage and opposition to what Senator Stevens is trying to do. We are so close to winning this year, and Senator Stevens is getting desperate, but Stevens' threat has a very real chance of succeeding unless we all take action to stop it.
PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATOR'S OFFICES TODAY!
Tell them to filibuster (block) any legislation that would allow drilling in America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
To call your Senators, click here: http://capwiz.com/...
To send emails: http://capwiz.com/...
Also, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is leading the efforts against Stevens' power grab - she has a petition on her website against the drilling proposal. Please go to her site and sign the petition: http://www.cantwell.com/... to show her that we are fully behind her great efforts!Text to go inside the quote box
Please Contact Your Senator NOW!