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Home   Environment September 15, 2005
The Honorable Richard G. Lugar, Senator
Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The Honorable Henry J. Hyde, Representative
Chairman, House Committee on International Relations Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20510
U.S.A. September 15, 2005 Dear Senator Lugar and Representative Hyde: I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal sympathy following the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on the United States. Please know that, as the Prime Minister has assured President Bush, Canada continues to provide all possible assistance and support for relief efforts. This natural disaster has had a devastating human toll. As your friends and neighbours, we will continue to work with you in the weeks and months as the recovery effort turns to reconstruction. Hurricane Katrina has also raised many serious concerns in the United States across a wide range of issues, including on energy security. In this context, it has come to our attention that this disaster is being used by some to promote the development of petroleum resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, using energy security as their rationale. The minimal oil resources in the Arctic Refuge will not make a timely or significant contribution to U.S. energy supplies. Consequently, I would like to share with you Canada’s longstanding concerns about oil drilling in the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd and to ask that you oppose any provision that would authorize such drilling. The Government of Canada is particularly concerned about an expected provision in the Budget Reconciliation legislation to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Refuge, because it would displace the Porcupine Caribou Herd which migrates annually across the Canada/U.S. border to calve in the protection of the coastal plain. Drilling in these lands would have a devastating impact both on the Porcupine Caribou and on the Gwich’in First Nations people of the northern Yukon, the MacKenzie delta, and northeastern Alaska, who rely heavily on the herd for food and their 12,000 year old culture. Canada has protected its portion of the herd’s habitat by providing permanent wilderness status through the establishment of Ivvavik and Vuntut National Parks in northern Yukon. This is consistent with the 1987 Canada-United States Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. Canada is committed to protecting the Gwich’in First Nation and Porcupine Caribou Herd on which they depend. We urge the United States to provide permanent wilderness protection to the calving grounds consistent with the 1987 Canada-U.S. Agreement. Sincerely, Pierre S. Pettigrew | 
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