Polar Bears Don’t Really Drink Coke

And I’ll bet, if they could talk, they wouldn’t really want be around anything having to do with people - especially if those people were drilling for oil in their backyard. But polar bears and the 45 other species of mammals that reside in the Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) seem to be under represented in the US House and Senate. On Wednesday May 4, 2005 the Senate voted 51 to 49 to defeat a measure that would have banned oil exploration and drilling on the 1.5 million acre coastal plain that is the ANWR.

Who lives in the ANWR you may ask? Well, there is the small pygmy shrew and the large bowhead whale. Others mammals include the Dall sheep, caribou, moose, musk oxen, wolves, grizzly bears, and black bears. The waters also abound with life (36 species of fish) and 180 species of birds live in the refuge or pass through it on their migrations. And, of course, there is plant life.

But fear not, ANWR furry, fishy, and feathered residents. The natural inability for politicians to get along may save you yet, because the ban on ANWR drilling hinges on the passage of the budget. Melinda Pierce, a lobbyist on the Arctic issue for the Sierra Club, said controversial items like Medicare cuts may prevent a budget resolution from passing. She further suggested that those opposed to oil drilling could possibly join forces with other opponents of budget cuts to defeat any budget resolution.

So, ANWR animals, the plan is divide, kill the budget, and conquer. I would also like to propose an alternate plan. If we can’t divide the folks in Washington on the budget, maybe we can get them to unite against it. One sure way to get the budget not to pass is to call for salary cuts for all Senators and Representatives. I say we have a planning meeting on this subject. Polar bears-if you agree to come, we won’t ask you to bring the Coke.

P.S. Actually though-I do love the Coke commercials with the polar bears