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To Drill or Not to Drill: Writers and Others Concerned about the Refuge Speak Out
"Print-on-demand" technology speeds book from concept to completion in two short months in time to present at Congressional Hearing. President Bush hints at shift on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge stance.
The question of whether to drill in Alaskašs Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has spurred writers and others concerned about the refuge to speak out. Thanks to a lot of passion and the availability of new publishing technology, their voices were heard.A book, titled Arctic Refuge: A Circle of Testimony, was presented to Congress at a press conference on Wednesday, March 28, 2001. The book includes testimonies from such respected thinkers as Jimmy Carter, Wendell Berry, Rick Bass, Scott Russell Sanders, Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben and Barry Lopez, as well as members of the Gwich'in Nation. The Gwich'in, Native Americans whose lives are still dependent on the caribou, would be directly affected if drilling were to be allowed.
The book was timed to hit Congress just as the House and Senate vote on legislation affecting the Refuge.
Last Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Vice President Dick Cheney denied the administration's plans to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling were foundering in the face of growing opposition on Capitol Hill, including among key Republicans.
"No, I don't think it's dead at all," he told "Meet the Press," saying drilling would disturb just 2,000 acres of the 19-million-acre reserve. The notion that, somehow, developing the resources in ANWR requires some sort of vast despoiling of the environment up there is just garbage," he said.
The administration argues the United States is facing an energy crisis and needs to increase its energy production. In addition to opening new areas to drilling, it is also considering building new nuclear power plants for the first time in almost two decades, Cheney said.
Mark Van Putten, President of the National Wildlife Federation remained optimistic. "President Bush may be starting to face the reality that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is too wild to waste and that the American public knows it. In his news conference yesterday, the president indicated he's shifted his position to allow for the likelihood that the public won't accept damaging the Arctic Refuge for a short term oil fix. It may not be much, but it's a move in the right direction."
For many of the contributors to Arctic Refuge, the struggle to save the Arctic Refuge (often known by its initials ANWR or "an-war") has come to represent one of the most pressing and fundamental questions of our time--when and how we will finally step forward and begin the essential move toward a sustainable energy policy. In answer Bill McKibben says, "I vote now and I vote for the caribou."
President Bush's recent decision to roll back regulation of carbon dioxide emissions raises the stakes and gives the dispute increased relevance with each daily commute.
"Using the latest technologies makes it possible for these thinkers to join the debate rather than have their comments come well after the votes are cast," said Emilie Buchwald, publisher of Milkweed Editions, an independent press based in Minneapolis that stepped in to coordinate production of the book. Milkweed's nonfiction publishing program, called The World As Home, is dedicated to literature about the natural world.
The idea for the book began in January, after the election results made it clear that drilling in ANWR was on the table. With time short on all fronts, Alaskan resident Hank Lentfer joined forces with Carolyn Servid, a writer and director of the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska, to send out a call across the country. The response was immediate and passionate.
"Išm just some hick in Alaska who got fed up," Lentfer says. "I was amazed at the community of people, the networks already there and ready to act." Lentfer says he is also responding to the idea that no one in Alaska is against the drilling.
The book, a paperback produced using "print-on-demand" technology, moved from concept to completion in two short months. The book also will be posted for download at The World As Home. Additional copies of the book will be available from Milkweed (1-800-520-6455). All proceeds go to further advocacy on behalf of the Arctic Refuge.