Increase SUV Fuel Efficiency and Save the Alaskan Wilderness From Drilling

One of the pillars of George W. Bush's energy plan is to drill for oil in the priceless Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to solve this energy "crisis". Consider this fact, and ask yourself if destroying this pristine wilderness is really necessary. If we increased SUVs' average fuel efficiency by 3 mpg, daily U.S. oil consumption would drop 49,000,000 gallons. That's 49 million gallons per day. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska is expected to generate approximately 42,000,000 gallons per day. That means that over the course of a year, increasing SUV fuel efficiency by a mere 3 miles per gallon (mpg) would generate 2.55 billion gallons MORE fuel than a year of ANWR drilling is expected to yield. Some friends of the oil industry might argue that this measure would devastate our slowing economy, but this is entirely false. First of all, SUV fuel efficiency is extremely low, and raising the dismal standards SUVs currently operate on would hardly be a monumental task. Second of all, today's advanced technologies are more than capable of producing this kind of raise. Currently, the average SUV gets 20.3 mpg. Honda recently released the Honda Insight, a car capable of 70 mpg; surely SUVs are capable of 23.3 mpg. Last of all, in the long term, the increase would be quite beneficial to the U.S. consumer, saving SUV driver hundreds of dollars each year. What this really comes down to is: Are we willing to sacrifice irreplaceable and beautiful American wilderness when we can avoid this with simple conservation efforts? These kinds of conservation efforts should be important regardless of the availability and price of fossil fuels in this country, but now they are as important as ever. More than 90 percent of the coastlands west of the ANWR have already been drilled and the wildlife and habitat have suffered greatly for this. Please sign this petition as an expression of your commitment to preserving the beautiful Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Thank you for your time and interest in this important issue. Also, feel free to e-mail me in response to this petition at basebaljc@hotmail.com.