Saving ANWR

Stéphane Dion to Bush: Keep U.S. oil rigs out of Arctic. The Environment Minister paid a visit to Washington to argue against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). The Toronto Star's Tim Harper recaps Canada's position:

"Canada opposes drilling that would displace the Porcupine caribou herd, which yearly crosses the Canada-U.S. border, and would have devastating social and cultural impact on First Nations in the Yukon. Canada provided permanent wilderness status to its portion of the herd's habitat by establishing national parks, as part of a 1987 Ottawa-Washington pact to conserve the herd."

I particularly liked Dion's response to those who would use Katrina/Rita & soaring gas-prices as an opportunity to press ahead with the drilling:

"The hurricanes showed we are in a frail planet. To think about the short term is not the solution," when we need to redouble efforts to protect the ecosystem, "particularly in the north, which is a barometer of the world."