I can’t do better than copy here an email from Beryl Bender Birch about the Arctic Refuge. Unfortunately I’ve deleted her first message, which was full of the kind of righteous indignation that strikes all of us at times, and which should strike more of us more often. But you can find out all you need to know on this with a quick search online (try this). And here’s Beryl*:
Hi Everyone,
Thank you sooooooo much for writing back to my email on the Arctic national Wildlife Reserver. Sorry, but the last (and most important part) part of the email was cut off, as you have all pointed out. Here is what we left off (duh! what kind of an activist am I??) and the information you need to make the calls.
Please check the lists below to see if your senator and/or representative was a Hero (voted to against the budget resolution and to preserve the ANWR) a Disappointment (votred for the budget resolution and to open for oil exploration) or a No-Show. If so, please call them at the phone number provided and deliver the message suggested below. These calls are enormously important. They will set the stage for the final round in this historic fight. Our targeted members of Congress need to know that pro-Arctic constituents like you will be watching their vote very closely.
* Beryl is perhaps the leading popularizer of “Power Yoga,” or astanga yoga, and she and I coauthored the yoga article in Berkshire’s International Encyclopedia of Women & Sport.
If you are unable to telephone, then please go to the Senate website http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm or the House website http://www.house.gov/writerep/, where you can look up your members of Congress and send them email messages.
ARCTIC HEROES
Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and thank them for voting against the
budget resolution last week because it threatened the Arctic Refuge. Urge them
to defend the Arctic again when the budget reconciliation bill comes to a vote.
Tell them you’ll be watching their vote closely.
Senator Lincoln Chafee (RI): 202-224-2921
Senator Mike DeWine (OH): 202-224-2315
Representative Charles Bass (NH-2): 202-225-5206
Representative Sherwood Boehlert (NY-24): 202-225-3665
Representative Michael Castle (DE-at large): 202-225-4165
Representative Nancy Johnson (CT-5): 202-225-4476
Representative Timothy Johnson (IL-15): 202-225-2371
Representative Jim Leach (IA-2): 202-225-6576
Representative Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2): 202-225-6572
Representative Jim Ramstad (MN-3): 202-225-2871
Representative Jim Saxton (NJ-3): 202-225-4765
Representative Christopher Shays (CT-4): 202-225-5541
Representative Rob Simmons (CT-2): 202-225-2076
ARCTIC DISAPPOINTMENTS
Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and express your deep disappointment
that they abandoned the Arctic Refuge last week by voting for a bad budget
resolution. Urge them to make up for it by defending the Arctic when the budget
reconciliation bill comes to a vote. Tell them you’ll be watching their vote
closely.
Senator Norm Coleman (MN): 202-224-5641
Senator Susan Collins (ME): 202-224-2523
Senator John McCain (AZ): 202-224-2235
Senator Gordon Smith (OR): 202-224-3753
Senator Olympia Snowe (ME): 202-224-5344
Representative Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6): 202-225-2721
Representative Jeb Bradley (NH-1): 202-225-5456
Representative Tom Davis (VA-11): 202-225-1492
Representative Vernon Ehlers (MI-3): 202-225-3831
Representative Mike Ferguson (NJ-7): 202-225-5361
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11): 202-225-5034
Representative Jim Gerlach (PA-6): 202-225-4315
Representative Wayne Gilchrest (MD-1): 202-225-5311
Representative Bob Inglis (SC-4): 202-225-6030
Representative Mark Kennedy (MN-6): 202-225-2331
Representative Mark Kirk (IL-10): 202-225-4835
Representative John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (NY-29): 202-225-3161
Representative Jim Nussle (IA-1): 202-225-2911
Representative Thomas Petri (WI-6): 202-225-2476
Representative Dave Reichert (WA-8): 202-225-7761
Representative John J.H. “Joe” Schwarz (MI-7): 202-225-6276
Representative F. James Sensenbrenner (WI-5): 202-225-5101
Representative Christopher Smith (NJ-4): 202-225-3765
Representative John Sweeney (NY-20): 202-225-5614
Representative James Walsh (NY-25): 202-225-3701
ARCTIC NO-SHOWS
Call (between 9am and 6pm eastern time) and express your disappointment that
they were absent for the budget resolution vote. Tell them you’re counting on
them to defend the Arctic Refuge when the budget reconciliation bill comes to a
vote.
Representative James Clyburn (SC-6): 202-225-3315
Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-25): 202-225-4865
Representative Bob Filner (CA-51): 202-225-8045
Representative Harold Ford, Jr. (TN-9): 202-225-3265
Representative William Jefferson (LA-2): 202-225-6636
Representative Steven Rothman (NJ-9): 202-225-5061
Representative Edolphus Towns (NY-10): 202-225-5936
Beryl Bender Birch
Director/Founder
The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute
East Hampton, New York
631 324-8409
Don’t be so quick to thank Rob Simmons. His reasons for voting against the budget resolution have more to do with politics than saving ANWR.
Simmons voted in favor of the Bush energy policy which calls for ANWR drilling.
He also refused to sign a letter drafted by his Republican colleague CT rep Nancy Johnson and other Republicans opposing ANWR drilling.