Dear Niles Daily Star,

I’m terribly disappointed that Rep. Rep. Fred Upton voted for a bill that will open all 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s pristine coastal plain, and almost every acre of our coasts, including along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, protected areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Bristol Bay to oil and gas drilling.

In a move the Competitive Enterprise Institute calls “myopic political gimmickry,” House leadership is pushing a plan to use speculative revenue from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic refuge and coastal waters to close the funding gap in the Transportation Bill.

What they aren’t saying is that even the most generous revenue estimates will not be enough, as any revenue from drilling will be drastically reduced by state-revenue sharing agreements and any Arctic production revenues would likely not be seen for at least 10 years.

Sadly, our representative fell for it.

There is still an opportunity to stop this extreme bill from moving forward.

I hope Rep. Upton will vote against final passage of the transportation package.

I also urge Sens. Stabenow and Levin to stand strong and reject this fiscally and environmentally irresponsible bill in the Senate.

Sincerely,

Donna Southwell
Buchanan