Understandably, we Americans feel an almost reflexive need for unanimity in trying times like these. As a nation, we are rightly consumed with responding to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. But, at some point — and I think we’re beginning to get there — we need to take a long-term view even as we are reacting to the current crisis. Really important domestic issues facing us before all of this happened — education, energy and the environment, health care — still have the same dimension and consequence. Unfortunately, disagreement is sometimes characterized as unpatriotic during times such as these and open, thoughtful discourse is somewhat muted.

A handful of determined U.S. senators, encouraged by the White House, are arguing that national security requires the Senate to rush a pro-oil energy bill into law. So far they have failed in what The Boston Globe is calling “oil opportunism.” Using our national tragedy as an opportunity to advance the narrow interests of the oil lobby would not be in the best interest of the public. This bill, already passed by the House, would not only open the Arctic Refuge to oil rigs, it would also pave the way for energy companies to exploit and destroy pristine areas of Greater Yellowstone and other gems of our natural heritage.

Last spring, the Bush administration and some members of Congress said we had to pass the president’s oil-friendly energy bill because we were facing the most serious energy crisis since 1973. But here we are, a mere six months later, and the energy crisis has vanished. Due to a slowing economy and falling demand, the prices for gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil have plunged. Meanwhile, the much-feared “summer of blackouts” in California never happened, largely because consumers and businesses made dramatic cuts in energy use by launching the most successful statewide conservation campaign in history.

With no energy crisis to scare us with, the administration and pro-oil senators are now promoting their “Drill the Arctic” plan under the guise of national security and energy independence. Don’t buy it. Our nation simply doesn’t have enough oil to drill our way to energy independence or even to affect world oil prices.

We possess a mere 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, but we consume fully 25 percent of the supply. As The Atlanta Constitution put it: “Burning through our tiny oil supply faster will not make our country more secure.”

If our nation wants to declare energy independence, then we have no choice but to reduce our appetite for oil. There’s no other way. We have the technology right now to increase fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon. If we phased in that standard by 2012 we’d save 15 times more oil than the Arctic Refuge is likely to produce over 50 years. We could also give tax rebates for existing hybrid gas-electric vehicles that get as much as 60 mpg. We could invest in public transit. We could launch an “Apollo Project” to bring fuel cells and hydrogen fuel down to earth, allowing us to begin the mass production of vehicles that emit only water as a by-product. The list goes on and on.

In this climate of national trauma and war, it is up to us — the people — to ensure that reason prevails and our natural heritage survives intact. Those who would sell out this natural heritage — this spiritual heritage — would destroy a wellspring of American strength. What’s worse, their rush to exploit the wildness that feeds our souls won’t do a thing to solve our energy problems.

There are plenty of sensible and patriotic ways to guarantee our nation’s energy security, but destroying the Arctic Refuge is not one of them. Tell that to your senators.

(This is an excerpt from a letter by Robert Redford. Go to www.savebiogems.org for the complete text.)

 

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