INDIANAPOLIS -- Environmentalists opposed to lifting a ban on oil and natural gas drilling in a remote Alaskan wilderness have begun a campaign to urge Sen. Dick Lugar to continue his support of the ban.
Lugar's Washington office and his five Indiana offices received about 60 telephone calls Tuesday urging him to support a continued ban on exploration at the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve, said Andy Fisher, Lugar's spokesman.
"We get about 1,000 phone calls a day from constituents and others, so they certainly didn't flood our phone lines," Fisher said.
The same day, Fisher said Lugar's six offices received about 10 phone calls from people who support lifting the ban.
The Alaska Wilderness League is behind the campaign. The group issued a statement Wednesday claiming as many as 500 Indiana residents who are members of the Izaak Walton League, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and other groups had called Lugar's office on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Alaska Wilderness League did not immediately return a phone message Thursday from The Associated Press seeking additional comment.
Drilling in the 1.5 million-acre coastal refuge is part of a broader energy policy promoting increased production advocated by President Bush.
Lugar won praise from environmentalists when he voted against drilling last year. He said last week he is reconsidering his stance because Bush has proposed lifting the ban as part of a cohesive national energy policy.
|
If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org |