[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18011-S18013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I come to the floor once again to talk 
about the appearance that I had on ``Nightline'' with the Secretary of 
the Interior, Mr. Babbitt. In that program, which I call a debate, on 
``Nightline,'' the Secretary claimed that the development of the 
coastal plain of our arctic for its oil potential would mean the end of 
that wildlife refuge.
  He referred to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is some 19 
million acres of our northern part of Alaska. It is above the Arctic 
Circle, as indicated. As a matter of fact, there are 21.2 million acres 
of wilderness in this whole area, and that area is larger than Vermont, 
New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island put together.
  Of this area, in 1980, 1.5 million acres of the arctic plain was set 
aside for development for oil and gas exploration, subject only to an 
environmental review to determine whether that type of development 
would result in irreparable harm to our arctic plain. That is what we 
call section 1002 of ANILCA, the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act. That 1.5 million acres was the only area in the 1980 
bill, that dealt with over 100 million acres, that provided for any 
development in our State. The Secretary says that proceeding as was 
intended in 1980 would be the end of that wildlife refuge. That is what 
I am here to talk about today.
  If we proceed with oil and gas exploration, as is intended by the 
Balanced Budget Act of 1995, this area will be 

[[Page S 18012]]
leased. There will be bonus bids that will bring in some $2.8 billion, 
we estimate. It will be at least that because one small area offshore 
here, the Mukluk, brought in over $1 billion--$1 billion--in a very 
small area. It was a dry hole.
  But this leasing will take place. As the exploration takes place, the 
total area that will be used out of that 1.5 million acres is about 
12,000 acres. That is about the size of Dulles Airport. And, after that 
exploration takes place, the actual area of development, for the roads, 
the buildings, the rigs that will be in place for the period of 
development, will be about 2,000 acres; 2,000 acres of the 1.5 million 
which is part of 19 million acres total in that refuge.
  I come to speak about this rhetoric because the administration is 
trying to leave the impression with the American public that, if this 
leasing takes place, it is the end of this whole refuge. As a matter of 
fact, Mr. President, the wilderness area selected by the Interior 
Department is in the area south of the arctic coastal plain and just at 
the slope of the Brooks Range. We call it the North Slope of the Brooks 
Range. It is not in the arctic plain.
  You know, Mr. President, it is a very difficult thing for people to 
understand that this is an arctic desert. The oil exploration will take 
place in an area which is an arctic desert. The problem comes that the 
porcupine caribou herd, which lives approximately 9 months of the year 
in Canada on the Porcupine River area, migrates into Alaska and goes 
150 miles up onto the North Slope. It is present on the plain maybe 6 
to 8 weeks when it decides to go up there. Some years it does not go at 
all, as I will mention. But when we were debating the oil pipeline--
this is the area of the oil pipeline up to the Prudhoe Bay. This is the 
Prudhoe Bay development right there. It is on State land. The land 
belongs to the State of Alaska. The claim was made 20 years ago that 
approval of that pipeline would lead to the destruction of the caribou 
herd. We call it the central arctic caribou herd. One person actually 
stood on the floor here and said that, if we got the approval to build 
the Alaska oil pipeline, all of the caribou would die, that it would be 
the end of the central arctic herd that lives near Prudhoe Bay.
  Did the caribou disappear? Did the pipeline, this tremendous pipeline 
that has brought us 11 billion barrels of oil so far--cause the caribou 
to disappear? Have they been injured? As a matter of fact, at the time 
we debated that pipeline, the caribou herd was about 6,000 animals. It 
went up to 23,400 animals by 1992. As we came to 1992, the development 
was over, and really man's presence started to be reduced in this area. 
The caribou have actually reduced in number as the number of people 
involved in the Prudhoe Bay area has been reduced. They are down to 
about 18,100 this year. But that is still more than three times the 
size of the caribou herd at the time the prediction was made that they 
would all die if the oil pipeline was put in place.
  The health of the caribou has very little to do with man's presence. 
As a matter of fact, that caribou herd is a very healthy herd. I have 
been up there. I would be glad to one of these days bring some 
photographs showing the caribou standing next to oil rigs, caribou 
rubbing up against the pipeline to scratch their backs, caribou coming 
up on top of the crosswalks to go over the pipeline because they are 
trying to get away from the mosquitoes. They are trying to get in a 
breeze, get high enough to get rid of the mosquitoes.
  That is a very flat area--the arctic plain. It is an area that has so 
many mosquitoes that very few animals or people spend much time there. 
If they do, they are very heavily loaded down with mosquito dope. I 
mean real, real mosquito dope.
  But technology is different now than 20 years ago when that pipeline 
was developed. There is no question, as I said, that the size of the 
actual development in the arctic plain will be quite small. We are 
looking now at the problem of what will human activity in this area do 
that might affect the caribou that might be different from this area 
around Prudhoe Bay. The answer is nothing.
  This will not be the end of the wildlife refuge. That assertion 
cannot be supported by any facts. It really is not only misleading; it 
is wrong. It is not truthful.
  This herd, as I said, does not stay there permanently. The central 
arctic herd stays there--in Prudhoe Bay--permanently. The central 
arctic herd is a very migrating herd. Sometimes it does not go up 
there. Our records show that in 1973, 1974, 1982, and 1988 the caribou 
did not come into this area at all. The caribou wander around in terms 
of this whole area.
  It is the fact that the caribou sometimes actually come over and go 
back into Canada into the area where there is substantial presence of 
the oil and gas industry over by the Beaufort Sea.
  Our arctic plain is, as I said, a desert. It is almost perfectly 
flat. It is treeless. That might surprise people because they see the 
photographs that are in the brochures of all of these extreme 
environmental organizations saying ``save this place from 
development.'' They show you beautiful lakes and hills, trees, bear, 
and caribou, and even, one time, an elk. There has never been any elk 
up there. It is a frozen desert.
  It has about 5 to 7 inches total of precipitation, snow and rain, in 
a 12-month period. Think of that--5 to 7 inches. This ground is 
permanently frozen. Water will not even penetrate it. Whatever melts 
from the snow gathers in small pools. They become shallow and stagnant. 
That is where we get the mosquitoes. It is probably the best breeding 
ground for mosquitoes in the whole United States. There is no question 
that the animals that are there, particularly the caribou, are driven 
nuts by the mosquitoes. They are very vicious. As I said, the 
mosquitoes drive these caribou so that they go under and on top of the 
pipeline. They try to get away from them by getting into the breeze 
that may be caused by wind blowing under the pipeline or over the 
pipeline.
  The wilderness area that we have is here. It is south of the 1002 
area. When you listen to the Secretary of the Interior, it sounds like 
we are trying to lease a wilderness area. That again is not true. It 
has never been true.
  This area once was the Arctic Wildlife Range. It was created by a 
secretarial order, and that order specifically stated that oil and gas 
leasing could take place on the range subject to stipulations to 
protect the fish and wildlife.
  At the time we considered this enormous act that withdrew all of 
these areas that are outlined in either blue or green or red, the 
Congress looked at all of them. And this is the only area, as I said, 
where the natural resources were so significant that the area was set 
aside, specifically stating that it would be subject to oil and gas 
leasing. The only thing that had to happen was that there had to be an 
environmental study made.
  It came to Congress not for the purpose of trying to open it. It has 
always been open. The question is, Should Congress approve the finding 
of the Secretary of the Interior that there would not be irreparable 
harm to this area if oil and gas development took place?
  It is 1\1/2\ million acres. Out of all of this area, as I said, of 
the whole area that belongs to the Federal Government up here, some 
21.2 million acres of the arctic is set aside as wilderness. As a 
matter of fact, Mr. President, 65 percent of all wilderness in the 
United States is in our State. Sixty-five percent of all the wilderness 
in the United States is in our State. Fifty-six million acres total 
have already been set aside as wilderness.
  In addition to that, we have 70 percent of the national parklands. We 
have 85 percent of all the national wildlife refuges in Alaska.
  That is the only area that Congress has ever designated as being set 
aside for oil and gas development. The Secretary tries to let the 
American public believe that this Senator is trying to authorize 
drilling in a wilderness area. It is not a wilderness area. It never 
was a wilderness area. It has never been withdrawn from oil and gas 
leasing. Oil and gas leasing was subject to this environmental impact 
statement that was made and has been presented to Congress. Two 
Secretaries of the Interior have recognized that and recommended to 
Congress that the oil and gas leasing proceed as was intended by my 
good friend, the late Scoop Jackson, in 1980.
  Mr. President, I am going to come back again and again and talk about 


[[Page S 18013]]
all the statements the Secretary made that night on ``Nightline'' that 
were not true. I think the American public should know. And I intend to 
find some way to be sure that cabinet officers that discuss pending 
legislation speak the truth.
  Thank you very much, Mr. President.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, was leader's time reserved?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.

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