Like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the east of it, Alaska's Western Arctic is a priority oil-drilling target for the Bush Administration.  The Western Arctic's formal name, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, gives no hint of the area's extraordinary wildlife, wilderness, and natural values and the Bureau of Land Management appears willing to sacrifice them.

The agency has issued a terribly lopsided draft environmental impact statement for oil and gas drilling on an 8.8-million-acre area.  The draft ignores the special places of the Western Arctic and the wildlife they support.  We ask your help in protecting them.  The deadline for comments is April 2, 2003.  Please take action by editing the letter below to reflect your own viewpoint, then clicking on "Send Message."

If you'd like to know more about the proposal, visit the BLM's web site at:

http://www.ak.blm.gov/nwnpra/