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Congress Asks: Fat Cats or Polar Bears?

By Rodger Schlickeisen

Wealthy speculators are driving up gas prices and fueling calls for harmful new drilling off our coasts and in pristine places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It's a classic match-up: Wall Street fat cats versus American families and the natural treasures we leave to our children. And in the next two weeks, Congress will vote to see who wins.

Help protect our polar bears from profit-hungry speculators and Big Oil. Urge Congress to pass legislation to address high gas prices by restoring accountability and transparency in the oil markets.

Speculation in the oil markets is a major factor in high gas prices.

Here's how it works: Weak oversight and accountability in the oil market allows wealthy investors from around the world to drive up the price we pay for gas by purchasing oil that they have no intention of using.

According to Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management, who testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June, "with greater regulation [of speculation], oil prices could drop to $65 or $70 a barrel within about 30 days."[1]

Ask your Senators and Representative to pass legislation to address high gas prices and protect our polar bears and other wildlife from the oil speculators and Big Oil's disastrous drilling plans.

Officials within the Bush Administration's own Energy Information Agency estimate that oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wouldn't hit the market for several years and would only reduce gas by a few pennies. Similarly, the agency has said that offshore drilling would not significantly impact domestic production or prices before 2030.

But this drilling would come at a terrible cost to our wildlife and the environment. Arctic drilling activities would disturb the most important onshore denning habitat for America's threatened polar bears -- potentially causing polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs.

Offshore drilling has its own problems: Each platform produces toxic discharges that can poison and kill marine wildlife and dumps tons of air pollutants into our atmosphere.

Please take a stand against irresponsible policies that hurt our families and put our wildlife at risk. Send your message now!

More drilling may benefit wealthy investors, Big Oil companies and their allies in Congress, but it won't lower prices at the pump or end America's oil addiction.