[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E20]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE UDALL-EISENHOWER ARCTIC WILDERNESS ACT

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                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 6, 2009

  Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, today, I am introducing the Udall-
Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act, which would give permanent protection 
to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This 
legislation also honors two great American visionaries--President 
Dwight Eisenhower and Representative Morris Udall--by designating this 
pristine wild place as wilderness in their names. President 
Eisenhower--a Republican--began the bipartisan legacy of fighting to 
protect this special place for future generations of Americans when he 
set aside the core of the Refuge in 1960. Twenty years later, in 1980, 
Representative Morris Udall--a Democrat--succeeded in doubling the size 
of the Refuge and protecting even more of this untrammeled wilderness.
  President Eisenhower and Rep. Mo Udall had the vision to protect a 
remote but very special piece of pristine wilderness. I am proud to 
introduce legislation today that would complete the job they began by 
permanently protecting the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge from oil 
drilling.
  I am also proud to once again introduce this legislation under the 
bill number H.R. 39, a bill number with important historical 
significance in the fight to preserve the land within the Arctic 
Refuge. H.R. 39 was the bill number given to Mo Udall's Alaska Natural 
Interest Lands Conservation Act that became law in 1980. This Act 
expanded the area President Eisenhower had originally set aside and 
renamed it as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Rep. Udall later 
began introducing his legislation to designate the coastal plain of the 
Refuge as wilderness under that same bill number. Introducing the 
Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act under the bill number H.R. 39 
offers an important reminder of the history of the fight to protect 
this special place.
  The coastal plain is the biological heart of the Refuge and is 
central to the survival of many unique species of animals including 
polar bears, caribou, musk oxen, wolves, and over 160 species of birds. 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls the coastal plain the ``center 
for wildlife activity'' in the Refuge. If we were to allow drilling in 
the Refuge it would irreparably disrupt this important ecosystem and 
one of our last great wild places will be forever destroyed.
  We know that the Arctic is already feeling the strains of global 
warming. Alaska has warmed at four times the rate of the rest of the 
planet over the last fifty years and the impacts of a warming Arctic on 
iconic species such as the polar bear are disastrous. Last year, the 
Bush Administration listed the polar bear as 'threatened' under the 
Endangered Species Act because of melting sea ice and government 
scientists project that the prospects for the polar bear's survival are 
bleak. A team of scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey released a 
series of reports at the end of 2007 which concluded that by mid-
century, two-thirds of all the world's polar bears could disappear and 
that polar bears could be gone entirely from Alaska. The USGS team also 
noted that based on recent observations, this dire assessment could 
actually be conservative.
  The 111th Congress marks a time of real change for our nation's 
energy policy. The Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress have 
argued for a shortsighted energy policy of ``drill, drill, drill'' that 
would forever sacrifice our beaches and most pristine wilderness areas 
for a few short months worth of oil. The United States consumes 25 
percent of the world's oil but controls only 3 percent of the world's 
oil reserves. We cannot drill our to way energy independence. But we 
can enact smart, green energy policies that can simultaneously grow our 
economy, spur technological innovation, protect our environment, reduce 
global warming pollution and end our addiction to oil.
  There are some places in our world that are so rare and so special 
that we have a responsibility to protect them. The Arctic Refuge is one 
of those places. Protecting the Arctic Refuge will send a strong 
statement of our nation's intent to preserve America's pristine 
wilderness areas, break our dangerous addition to oil, and kick-start a 
green revolution to create jobs, grow the economy, and promote energy 
independence.
  As Mo Udall said, ``In our lifetime, we have few opportunities to 
shape the very Earth on which our descendants will live their lives. In 
each generation, we have carved up more and more of our once-great 
natural heritage. There ought to be a few places left in the world the 
way the Almighty made them.'' The Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness 
Act will ensure that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is forever 
protected for future Americans and never carved up by the big oil 
companies.

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