December 14, 2005 (Washington, DC) - Last night, Congressional leaders announced that they would drop mining provisions from budget reconciliation bill negotiations that would have put millions of acres of public lands -- including protected wildlands in parks, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and even wilderness areas -- up for sale. 

The defeat of this extreme plan to privatize wild public lands is a major victory for the conservation legacy of our nation.  Public lands are for the public.  That's an American tradition that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can all agree on.

It's no surprise that we saw broad opposition from all across the country to these damaging provisions.  Hunters, anglers, businesses, governors, local officials, and everyday citizens recognize that our wild public lands should be treasured for all time, not sold to the highest bidder.  Our National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, National Parks, and Bureau of Land Management lands and waters drive our local economies, they improve quality of life for all of us, and they preserve a piece of our shared American history that we cannot afford to lose.

Unfortunately, despite continued bipartisan opposition, anti-wilderness interests have not yet abandoned their plan to authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through the backdoor of the budget bill.  U.S. Department of Energy data shows that drilling the entire 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge would only net consumers about a penny-per-gallon savings at the gas pump 20 years from now.  This irreplaceable national treasure should not be sacrificed for the sake of oil company profits. 

Leaders in Congress who have taken a principled stand to protect the Arctic Refuge must continue to reject any attempts to force this backwards drilling plan into the budget bill and work together on forward-looking energy policy for America.