[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 5, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S3194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Biden, Mrs. Boxer, 
        Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Dodd, 
        Mr. Durbin, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Graham of Florida, 
        Mr. Harkin, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Lautenberg, 
        Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Schumer, 
        Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 543. A bill to designate a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge as wilderness; to the Committee on Environmental and Public 
Works.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
to designate the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness.
  America's dependence on foreign oil is an urgent and stubborn 
problem. But the answer isn't in the ground. It's in our heads. We have 
to apply the genius of America to engineer a solution to energy 
independence, not hope that we will magically find one in the deposits 
under Alaska.
  The facts on this are clear. Alaska has at a most 6 month supply of 
oil--not a drop of which will be available for a decade. The United 
States Energy Information Administration--part of the Bush 
administration--itself concluded that full development of the Refuge 
would reduce our projected dependence on foreign oil from 62 to 60 
percent at the very most, and not until 2020.
  For that, is it worth forever losing a national treasure, one of our 
last great wild places? I say no. Instead, I say yes to a smart, 
forward-looking strategy to wean our economy off its addiction to 
foreign oil without sacrificing our natural treasures.
  Despite my colleagues arguments to the contrary, I believe it is 
finally established that there is no way--no way--to drill in the 
Arctic without disrupting and essentially destroying that precious 
place. For too long, drilling advocates have attempted to raise 
questions about the impacts of drilling. It is time for the facts to 
carry the day.
  In fact, just today, the National Academies of Science released a 
report detailing the cumulative impacts of oil development on Alaska's 
North Slope. The NAS not only found that Arctic oil development has 
adversely impacted populations of caribou, birds and bowhead whales--
more importantly, they said that future drilling would pose grave 
threats to the Arctic's environmental health. As the report stated in a 
section entitled ``The Essential Trade-Off,'' the question for Congress 
is whether the available oil is worth the ``inevitable accumulated 
undesirable effects.'' With so little impact on our oil dependence 
predicted, the answer is clearly no.
  In every poll, we see that the majority of Americans oppose ruining 
the Arctic for oil. And, as we established last year, the majority of 
the U.S. Senate agrees with them. Once and for all, let's respect that 
desire, and let's protect this precious place. Let's pass this bill.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 543

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF PORTION OF ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE 
                   REFUGE AS WILDERNESS.

       Section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
     Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:
       ``(p) Designation of Certain Land as Wilderness.--
     Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a portion of 
     the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska comprising 
     approximately 1,559,538 acres, as generally depicted on a map 
     entitled `Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--1002 Area. 
     Alternative E--Wilderness Designation, October 28, 1991' and 
     available for inspection in the offices of the Secretary, is 
     designated as a component of the National Wilderness 
     Preservation System under the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 
     et seq.).''.
                                 ______