The National Resources Defense Council produced this report, along with many others, in the update on the Bush Administration's Environmental Policies.  Click here to go there!

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees silenced on Arctic Refuge

March 6, 2002: According to news reports, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in Alaska have instructed employees not to discuss certain issues concerning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge without consulting the public affairs office. Agency officials insist that the directive is not a gag order, but simply a precautionary measure to ensure that lawmakers, interest groups and members of the public get consistent answers and up-to-date information. Environmentalists, however, view the move as an attempt by the pro-drilling Bush administration to squelch differing opinions within the agency.

"The message is clear: If you can't say something nice about oil drilling in America's premier wilderness area, then don't say anything at all," said Chuck Clusen, NRDC's Arctic Refuge specialist. "Once again Interior Secretary Norton is trying to stifle her own agency's biologists from openly discussing the devastating environmental impacts of oil development in the refuge."

With Americans focused on the war against terrorism and fearing disruptions to oil supplies, some in Congress are pushing to hand the keys to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the oil industry.

But the truth is... despoiling "America's Serengeti" for fuel that will take 10 years to bring to market does nothing to protect us from wild swings in the price and supply of oil -- real energy security lies in reducing America's dependence on oil.

Oil and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

More background: NRDC Energy and Wilderness Preservation pages