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In the coming weeks, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7), a bill that seeks to raise revenues to pay for infrastructure projects by expanding domestic oil and gas drilling. Specifically, H.R. 7 would direct the Secretary of Interior to implement an oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – a move that would threaten this unique region for generations to come.
Designated by President Eisenhower in 1960 and expanded by President Carter in 1980, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) stands as one of America’s last true wilderness areas. The area contains numerous fragile arctic ecosystems, including habitats for caribou, polar bears, arctic foxes, and snowbirds. Many of these most notable ecosystems are found on the coastal plain of Alaska, an area of about 1.5 million acres along the Arctic Ocean. This area represents the last 5% of Alaska’s North Slope that is not already open to oil exploration and drilling. In 2001, the Union for Reform Judaism passed official policy outlining our support for designating the coastal plain of ANWR as wilderness to ensure that this delicate region and its people are protected by federal law.
In November, the Senate rejected both Democratic and Republican infrastructure investment bills after failing to reach any agreement on how to finance these projects. Drilling with the goal of raising additional revenue, however - the plan under consideration in the House bill - threatens ANWR’s fragile ecosystem as well as the way of life for the Guich’in people, natives of the region. This course of action would sacrifice the long-term health and protection of ANWR for the short-term gain of consuming more oil, more cheaply, and ignoring our responsibility to stem climate change.
Year after year, precious tracts of land and stretches of ocean are contaminated by oil spills and gas leaks. These catastrophes and our Jewish tradition compel us to protect ANWR’s coastal plain. In Genesis we learn that when God placed the first human beings in the Garden of Eden, God gave humanity a dual role in relationship to the surrounding environment, (l'av'dah ul'shamrah), "to till it and tend it" (Genesis 2:15). This passage demands a balanced approach to development, a careful consideration of the competing needs both to employ the resources with which God has provided us and to protect those resources for generations to come.
Urge your members of Congress to vote against American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) and similar legislation that would leave the region vulnerable to oil and gas drilling. The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202.224.3121,or you can send an e-mail by clicking here.
Image courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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