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“THE ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S18011-S18013 on Dec. 5, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE ARCTIC WILDLIFE REFUGE
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I come to the floor once again to talk about the appearance that I had on ``Nightline'' with the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Babbitt. In that program, which I call a debate, on
``Nightline,'' the Secretary claimed that the development of the coastal plain of our arctic for its oil potential would mean the end of that wildlife refuge.
He referred to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is some 19 million acres of our northern part of Alaska. It is above the Arctic Circle, as indicated. As a matter of fact, there are 21.2 million acres of wilderness in this whole area, and that area is larger than Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island put together.
Of this area, in 1980, 1.5 million acres of the arctic plain was set aside for development for oil and gas exploration, subject only to an environmental review to determine whether that type of development would result in irreparable harm to our arctic plain. That is what we call section 1002 of ANILCA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. That 1.5 million acres was the only area in the 1980 bill, that dealt with over 100 million acres, that provided for any development in our State. The Secretary says that proceeding as was intended in 1980 would be the end of that wildlife refuge. That is what I am here to talk about today.
If we proceed with oil and gas exploration, as is intended by the Balanced Budget Act of 1995, this area will be leased. There will be bonus bids that will bring in some $2.8 billion, we estimate. It will be at least that because one small area offshore here, the Mukluk, brought in over $1 billion--$1 billion--in a very small area. It was a dry hole.
But this leasing will take place. As the exploration takes place, the total area that will be used out of that 1.5 million acres is about 12,000 acres. That is about the size of Dulles Airport. And, after that exploration takes place, the actual area of development, for the roads, the buildings, the rigs that will be in place for the period of development, will be about 2,000 acres; 2,000 acres of the 1.5 million which is part of 19 million acres total in that refuge.
I come to speak about this rhetoric because the administration is trying to leave the impression with the American public that, if this leasing takes place, it is the end of this whole refuge. As a matter of fact, Mr. President, the wilderness area selected by the Interior Department is in the area south of the arctic coastal plain and just at the slope of the Brooks Range. We call it the North Slope of the Brooks Range. It is not in the arctic plain.
You know, Mr. President, it is a very difficult thing for people to understand that this is an arctic desert. The oil exploration will take place in an area which is an arctic desert. The problem comes that the porcupine caribou herd, which lives approximately 9 months of the year in Canada on the Porcupine River area, migrates into Alaska and goes 150 miles up onto the North Slope. It is present on the plain maybe 6 to 8 weeks when it decides to go up there. Some years it does not go at all, as I will mention. But when we were debating the oil pipeline--
this is the area of the oil pipeline up to the Prudhoe Bay. This is the Prudhoe Bay development right there. It is on State land. The land belongs to the State of Alaska. The claim was made 20 years ago that approval of that pipeline would lead to the destruction of the caribou herd. We call it the central arctic caribou herd. One person actually stood on the floor here and said that, if we got the approval to build the Alaska oil pipeline, all of the caribou would die, that it would be the end of the central arctic herd that lives near Prudhoe Bay.
Did the caribou disappear? Did the pipeline, this tremendous pipeline that has brought us 11 billion barrels of oil so far--cause the caribou to disappear? Have they been injured? As a matter of fact, at the time we debated that pipeline, the caribou herd was about 6,000 animals. It went up to 23,400 animals by 1992. As we came to 1992, the development was over, and really man's presence started to be reduced in this area. The caribou have actually reduced in number as the number of people involved in the Prudhoe Bay area has been reduced. They are down to about 18,100 this year. But that is still more than three times the size of the caribou herd at the time the prediction was made that they would all die if the oil pipeline was put in place.
The health of the caribou has very little to do with man's presence. As a matter of fact, that caribou herd is a very healthy herd. I have been up there. I would be glad to one of these days bring some photographs showing the caribou standing next to oil rigs, caribou rubbing up against the pipeline to scratch their backs, caribou coming up on top of the crosswalks to go over the pipeline because they are trying to get away from the mosquitoes. They are trying to get in a breeze, get high enough to get rid of the mosquitoes.
That is a very flat area--the arctic plain. It is an area that has so many mosquitoes that very few animals or people spend much time there. If they do, they are very heavily loaded down with mosquito dope. I mean real, real mosquito dope.
But technology is different now than 20 years ago when that pipeline was developed. There is no question, as I said, that the size of the actual development in the arctic plain will be quite small. We are looking now at the problem of what will human activity in this area do that might affect the caribou that might be different from this area around Prudhoe Bay. The answer is nothing.
This will not be the end of the wildlife refuge. That assertion cannot be supported by any facts. It really is not only misleading; it is wrong. It is not truthful.
This herd, as I said, does not stay there permanently. The central arctic herd stays there--in Prudhoe Bay--permanently. The central arctic herd is a very migrating herd. Sometimes it does not go up there. Our records show that in 1973, 1974, 1982, and 1988 the caribou did not come into this area at all. The caribou wander around in terms of this whole area.
It is the fact that the caribou sometimes actually come over and go back into Canada into the area where there is substantial presence of the oil and gas industry over by the Beaufort Sea.
Our arctic plain is, as I said, a desert. It is almost perfectly flat. It is treeless. That might surprise people because they see the photographs that are in the brochures of all of these extreme environmental organizations saying ``save this place from development.'' They show you beautiful lakes and hills, trees, bear, and caribou, and even, one time, an elk. There has never been any elk up there. It is a frozen desert.
It has about 5 to 7 inches total of precipitation, snow and rain, in a 12-month period. Think of that--5 to 7 inches. This ground is permanently frozen. Water will not even penetrate it. Whatever melts from the snow gathers in small pools. They become shallow and stagnant. That is where we get the mosquitoes. It is probably the best breeding ground for mosquitoes in the whole United States. There is no question that the animals that are there, particularly the caribou, are driven nuts by the mosquitoes. They are very vicious. As I said, the mosquitoes drive these caribou so that they go under and on top of the pipeline. They try to get away from them by getting into the breeze that may be caused by wind blowing under the pipeline or over the pipeline.
The wilderness area that we have is here. It is south of the 1002 area. When you listen to the Secretary of the Interior, it sounds like we are trying to lease a wilderness area. That again is not true. It has never been true.
This area once was the Arctic Wildlife Range. It was created by a secretarial order, and that order specifically stated that oil and gas leasing could take place on the range subject to stipulations to protect the fish and wildlife.
At the time we considered this enormous act that withdrew all of these areas that are outlined in either blue or green or red, the Congress looked at all of them. And this is the only area, as I said, where the natural resources were so significant that the area was set aside, specifically stating that it would be subject to oil and gas leasing. The only thing that had to happen was that there had to be an environmental study made.
It came to Congress not for the purpose of trying to open it. It has always been open. The question is, Should Congress approve the finding of the Secretary of the Interior that there would not be irreparable harm to this area if oil and gas development took place?
It is 1\1/2\ million acres. Out of all of this area, as I said, of the whole area that belongs to the Federal Government up here, some 21.2 million acres of the arctic is set aside as wilderness. As a matter of fact, Mr. President, 65 percent of all wilderness in the United States is in our State. Sixty-five percent of all the wilderness in the United States is in our State. Fifty-six million acres total have already been set aside as wilderness.
In addition to that, we have 70 percent of the national parklands. We have 85 percent of all the national wildlife refuges in Alaska.
That is the only area that Congress has ever designated as being set aside for oil and gas development. The Secretary tries to let the American public believe that this Senator is trying to authorize drilling in a wilderness area. It is not a wilderness area. It never was a wilderness area. It has never been withdrawn from oil and gas leasing. Oil and gas leasing was subject to this environmental impact statement that was made and has been presented to Congress. Two Secretaries of the Interior have recognized that and recommended to Congress that the oil and gas leasing proceed as was intended by my good friend, the late Scoop Jackson, in 1980.
Mr. President, I am going to come back again and again and talk about all the statements the Secretary made that night on ``Nightline'' that were not true. I think the American public should know. And I intend to find some way to be sure that cabinet officers that discuss pending legislation speak the truth.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, was leader's time reserved?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
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