Help stop drilling in the Arctic Refuge

An important message from John Kerry about stopping drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge:

It's now or never if we want to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the White House and Republican leaders in Congress are stacking the odds against us. They're using underhanded procedural tactics to sneak through legislation to destroy the Arctic Refuge. The vote will occur this week in the Senate and next week in the House of Representatives.

We need your help to spread the truth about what's happening. We will fight this to the end, however long the odds, to show them that America won't stand for their misplaced priorities.

Despite years of control in Washington, George Bush and the Republican leadership have been unable to secure support for opening the Refuge to oil drilling.

Why? Because of you. Thanks to the incredible grassroots work that you've done year after year, we have been able to hold elected officials accountable on this issue and it has driven the Republicans crazy.

During the debate on the Arctic Refuge last spring, Republican leaders were so upset about our email and the work of more than 425,000 concerned members of the johnkerry.com community that they literally complained about it during the debate on the Senate floor.

We must have been doing something right and we need to do so again.

Please call or write to your congressman or congresswoman and ask them to say no to drilling.

These votes will decide the fate of the Refuge. It's no time to be sitting on the sidelines. We have to make our voice heard in this debate on Capitol Hill, and if we lose the vote there, we have to make sure we don't lose the debate across America.

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We need to get the truth out about how Republicans are hijacking the legislative process to destroy Alaska's wildlife refuge.

Led by my friend Maria Cantwell of Washington in the Senate and my friend and fellow Massachusetts legislator Ed Markey in the House, we have established a strong bi-partisan coalition in the House and Senate to try to stop this underhanded maneuver.

We need your help to get the message out. Please call your Members of Congress and let the facts speak for themselves.

• Drilling in the Arctic Refuge can't make even a small dent in meeting America's energy needs. U.S. Geological Survey scientists estimate that there is very likely only enough oil to supply America's needs for six months. And oil companies admit that even that won't be available for at least 10 years.
• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's 19 million acres comprise one of the last places on earth where an intact expanse of arctic and sub arctic land remains protected.
• An irreplaceable natural treasure, the Arctic Refuge is home to caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, wolves, golden eagles, snow geese and more. Millions of other birds use the Arctic Refuge to nest and as a critical staging area on their migratory journeys.
• The Arctic Refuge supports more than wildlife. For a thousand generations, the Gwich'in people of Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada have depended on it and lived in harmony with it. To them, the Arctic Coastal Plain is sacred ground.
• Oil companies are experiencing windfall profits while Americans struggle at the pump. They don't need any more giveaways from the Republican Party, especially ones that put our environment behind special interests.
  It's time this Administration acknowledged we can't drill our way to energy independence. We have to invent our way there.

We cannot allow the Refuge to be exploited by greedy Republicans. Take action today and urge your seantors and representative not to vote for drilling.