Walk to Washington, D.C., Sweeps Through Middlebury

Author: Jon White

Joined by a crew of four Middlebury students, cyclist, environmentalist and mountain climber Tim Leach rode into town Sunday afternoon to refresh the movement to save Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Leach is leading the northeastern leg of the Alaska Coalition's three-pronged Walk to Washington, D.C. The Walk seeks to bring one of the nation's foremost environmental battles to the local level.
Leach began biking on Sept. 14 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He will reach Washington, D.C., on Nov. 16, after traveling across New England and swinging down the coast through New York City. Joining Leach on Nov. 16 in Washington, D.C., will be two other teams that crossed America, starting in Seattle and Kansas City, respectively.
A 1999 graduate of Bates College, Leach joined the ranks of activists working to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil drilling after climbing Denali (better known as Mt. McKinley) in 2000. Shortly after his climb, Leach learned that then-Texas Governor George W. Bush planned to make oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a priority in his energy plan when elected president.
Upon hearing this, Leach took to his bike and journeyed from Fairbanks to the Arctic Coast of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay to get a better sense of the issue. On this journey, and on subsequent expeditions into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Leach caught on film and in picture an eloquent and breathtaking testament to the environmental devastation wrought at Prudhoe Bay, the locus of Alaska's sprawling North Slope oil fields, as well as to the primeval beauty of the neighboring Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge covers an area of land nearly the size of the state of Maine. Approximately 130,000 caribou calve on the Refuge's coastal plain, while 180 migratory bird species nest on the golden tundra in the midnight sun of the summer months. Polar bears patrol the Arctic Ocean coastline year-round.
Leach emphasized that drilling will be a disruption to all animal life in the Refuge. He reminded the audience that 95 percent of Alaska's Arctic coastline is open to oil exploration and that drilling in the Refuge would have a negligible impact on America's supply of oil. Leach is worried that the Refuge will suffer the same fate as the Prudhoe Bay oil range. There, an average of 427 oil spills occur each year and the oil infrastructure releases over 56,000 tons of nitrogen oxides into the air, double the nitrogen oxide emission rate of Washington, D.C.
Leach encouraged those gathered to think of the Arctic Refuge in broader contexts. If Americans insisted on increased fuel efficiency and alternatives to fossil fuels, he said he believes the need to spoil the Arctic Refuge would be eliminated.
Additionally, Leach told of his experiences speaking with the Gwich'in people of Alaska's Arctic. The Gwich'in oppose drilling on the Refuge, which they insist would harm the caribou, an animal linked to its cultural history.
"What right do we have to change another people's culture?" Leach asked in reference to the human rights issues at stake.
Congress is currently at an impasse on what action to take in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In August 2001, the House approved a measure to allow drilling, although in April the Senate voted against that measure. President Bush avidly supports drilling, as does Alaska's congressional delegation. At the moment, a congressional committee is debating the fate of the Arctic Refuge in an attempt to reconcile differences between the House and Senate energy plans.
Middlebury students Joel Cubley '05, Nick Benjamin '05, Colin Kikuchi '05 and Evan Twelker '04 followed Leach on Sunday as he approached Middlebury from Bridport. All share Leach's concern for the fate of the Arctic Refuge. "It is ridiculous. There's only a six-month supply of oil. It's not worth it,"Cubley said of the drilling proposal.
For more information on Leach's ride, and the movement to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, visit www.cariboucommons.com.