Patrick Leahy: “the Senate soon will have the opportunity to support an amendment to remove the proposal to increase oil and gas…”

“the Senate soon will have the opportunity to support an amendment to remove the proposal to increase oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the budget reconciliation bill. By tucking away this proposal into the energy section of the reconciliation bill, proponents of this provision would smother the open debate the American public deserves on such a significant and contentious national issue. Just last Friday, on March 14, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Nation's first Federal bird reserve on Pelican Island, the predecessor of today's refuge system. Today we are debating whether to allow further drilling in the fragile arctic environment, for reasons that do not add up to justify such a step. Consider how far we have come since President Theodore Roosevelt had the vision to set aside the 5-acre Pelican Island--a small thicket of mangroves off the east coast of Florida--to a system that today totals more than 95 million acres consisting of 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. The National Wildlife Refuge System hosts 35,000,000 visitors annually, with the help of 30,000 volunteers. It is home to wildlife of almost every variety in every State of the Union, and some part or parts of the system are within an hour's drive of almost every major city.”