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Washington office says Senate vote on Arctic a victory
2002-097-3
4/18/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations praised the U.S. Senate's April 18 vote to protect the Alaska National Wilderness Refuge.
'Energy security is obtained through conservation and the development of alternatives to fossil fuels, not drilling for three percent of the world's oil reserves,' said John B. Johnson of the Office of Government Relations. 'The Senate vote reflects the character of our country, that we can use the economic, entrepreneurial, and innovative might of this nation to solve our energy challenges. We don't have to threaten life, land and culture to meet our energy needs.'
The Arctic Refuge is the spiritual homeland to the Gwich'in Indians. Oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would have threatened the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which is the very basis of Gwich'in culture and life. Traditionally Gwich'in communities are almost totally Episcopalian and have been since Anglican and subsequently Episcopal missionaries came to bring the Gospel more than 100 years ago. For 10,000 years, generations of Gwich'in native people of northeast Alaska and northwest Canada have relied on the caribou for subsistence.
The Episcopal Church has repeatedly called upon the United States Congress and the Bush administration 'to permanently protect the calving and nursery grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd by prohibiting oil development in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.'
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