Most recently, Rep. Don Young (R., Alaska) and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md.) introduced H.R. 6107, which would use speculative Arctic Refuge funds to promote the research and development of alternative energies.

What these drilling proponents don't say is that the federal government's own Energy Information Administration recently released a report - requested by Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) in 2007 - that shows that drilling in the Arctic Refuge will have no effect on high gas prices.

According to the report, if drilling starts in 2018: "Oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR reaches 780,000 barrels per day in 2027," and goes down from there. That's a fraction of the 21 million barrels-a-day consumed in the United States.

This amount of oil would reduce the price at the pump by less than 4 cents per gallon, or 75 cents per barrel in 2025. And all this analysis is based on the "mean resource case" or 1-in-2 likelihood that 780,000 barrels per day is actually the amount of oil available in the refuge.

The more likely scenario? About half that number. Because what those drilling proponents also don't say is that no one really knows how much oil would be found in the Arctic Refuge.

Meanwhile, Big Oil is sitting on millions of acres of federal land that they could be using to drill for oil - there are currently 68 million acres of federal land leased but sitting idle. In the Arctic region of Alaska, 91 million acres, onshore and offshore, are open to leasing yet only 11.8 million are being used.

It's estimated that all these unused acres could bring an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil - more than six times the estimated peak production from the Arctic Refuge.

Drilling proponents talk a lot about environmentally sensitive drilling in the Arctic Refuge. They claim that the drilling footprint would be limited to 2,000 acres. In fact, drilling bills, including H.R. 6107, allow a spider web of wells, pipelines, processing plants, airstrips and other facilities that would cast a wide net over the entire Coastal Plain.

The new bill also limits the authority of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, restricts judicial review of the oil-drilling program, and allows the secretary of the interior to emphasize economic gain over environmental costs.

When it comes to environmental sensitivity, Big Oil has a dismal track record in Alaska. They constantly reassure the public that the risk of a spill is low - yet spills just keep happening, with one reported in May from pipeline corrosion at the Alpine oil field - the newest and most technologically advanced oil field in Alaska.

Just two years ago, British Petroleum's corrosion problems at Prudhoe Bay caused the largest oil spill in North Slope history - 200,000 gallons of crude oil - as well as a temporary, but massive, shutdown of the nation's largest oil field.

The Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge, home to more than 200 species of wildlife, is one of our last pristine, untouched wilderness places. We must demand that Congress work to preserve this unique place for future generations - and find real solutions to our current energy crisis.