Tennessee groups unite against Alaska wilderness drilling plans

Tennessee groups unite against
Alaska wilderness drilling plans

By Morgan Simmons
News-Sentinel staff writer

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may be almost 4,000 miles from Knoxville, but for five East Tennesseans, the future of this pristine coastal plain is an issue that hits close to home.

In 1990 Knoxville attorney and outdoor enthusiast Will Skelton led local Sierra Club members Kathleen Kitzmeller, Carol T. Coffey and his wife, Carol B. Coffey, on an extended backpacking trip through the 19 million-acre wilderness on Alaska's northern coast.

Making the trip the previous year was Liane Russell of Oak Ridge, who witnessed the annual caribou migration across the refuge's vast tundra.

"It is an experience every Tennessee should share," Russell said.

Often described as "America's Serengeti" because of its abundant wildlife, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has assumed center stage in the national energy debate as a result of the Bush administration's recent proposal to open up the area to oil drilling.

Monday's press conference at Ijams Nature Center was the first public event for The Alaska Coalition of Tennessee, a new alliance of 15 groups representing more than 15,000 Tennesseans who oppose the oil drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The group's goal is to win the support of Tennessee Sens. Fred Thompson and Bill Frist, who have not committed to either side.

Nestled between the peaks of the Brooks Range and the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the coastal plain is the only fragment of the Arctic coastline that remains protected from oil exploration.

Skelton, who has backpacked on every continent and made five trips to Alaska, described Alaska's northern coast as "truly a national treasure ... my favorite place in all the world."

"It is all but criminal that the refuge is being dubbed as the solution to our increasing dependence on foreign oil," Skelton said.

Russell, who with her husband in 1989 traveled the refuge's entire coastal range from the mountains to the sea, described seeing herds of migrating caribou as well as musk oxen, Arctic fox, and millions of nesting shorebirds and waterfowl.

"The feeling of vastness and stillness - it's a place untouched by the sights and sounds of civilization," Russell said. "Our country should feel truly honored to have a place like that."

Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said a national energy policy should place more emphasis on new technologies and greater energy efficiency.

Smith said the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge issue also has a direct bearing on Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

"We can trace most of the damage to the Smokies to our energy use patterns, whether the source be cars or coal-burning power plants," Smith said. "If we're going to have a national energy debate, let's reconsider the business-as-usual approach of constantly chasing the demand by coal mining and oil drilling."

Citing a U.S. Geological Survey study, Smith said the oil recovered from the Arctic Refuge would amount to less than a six-month supply for America, and would take at least 10 years to do the exploration and drilling necessary to bring the oil to U.S. markets.