Call Coleman and Dayton on ANWR drilling

Call Coleman at his St. Paul office (his DC mailbox is full): 651-645-0323 or 800-642-6041.

Call the congressional switchboard toll-free at 866-877-4455 to reach Dayton's DC office, or call him at 888-224-9043.


From the Natural Resources Defense Council:

>Dear NRDC Action Fund Supporter,
>
>It's all come down to this: the U.S. Senate will vote in the next two >days on
>a defense spending bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife >Refuge to
>drilling.
>
>Please drop whatever you're doing and call your Senators right now. Tell them
>to get Arctic drilling out of the defense bill (H.R. 2863), where it does not
>belong. Tell them to use a filibuster if necessary.
>
>Senator Mark Dayton: (202) 224-3244
>Senator Norm Coleman: (202) 224-5641
>
>Even if you called your Senators on Friday, call them again today! The
>situation has grown much more dire over the past 48 hours.
>
>Early this morning, the House of Representatives passed a defense spending >bill
>that includes the Arctic drilling provision. That means our very last hope >for
>saving the Arctic Refuge is riding on the Senate.
>
>Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is leading the charge in the Senate to >sacrifice
>the Arctic Refuge and hand the oil industry a billion-dollar gift for the
>holidays. He and other pro-drilling Senators have failed to pass their Arctic
>giveaway through legitimate legislative means.
>
>So now they're hijacking the defense bill -- and funding for American >troops --
>to ram through their special interest agenda. Your Senators are under >enormous
>pressure to vote Yes on this "must-pass" defense spending bill.
>
>Call your Senators and tell them you're appalled by this abuse of power by
>Senator Ted Stevens. Urge them to strip Arctic drilling from the defense
>spending bill, with a filibuster if necessary.
>
>For the sake of the Arctic Refuge, please place your calls right now!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>John H. Adams
>NRDC Action Fund
>

This is a blackmail bill.

The greedy crooks figure they'll get their money to continue the war and give away unique public resources to their oil buddies if they hold the Katrina relief, heating assistance and anti-torture legislation (which doesn't actually ban torture anymore, thanks to another amendment) hostage.

I despise the people behind this.

The Coleman stooge went into a spiel about how Coleman has always voted to protect ANWR and he's trying to talk Frist into removing the language from the Senate bill. I interrupted and told him I expected more than that and that Coleman had to put his money where his mouth was and join a filibuster if Frist refuses to remove the language. The stooge didn't have a comeback, but told me he'd pass it along.

Dayton's office said they'd pass along the message to filibuster.