Green Corps organizers working on behalf of the Alaska Coalition helped to turn out more than 5,000 citizens to Washington, D.C., for Arctic Refuge Action Day in September 2005.

When the Alaska Coalition needs effective grassroots organizing to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling, they come to Green Corps.

For more than 10 years, the oil and gas industry has lobbied to exploit the last pristine wilderness area on Alaska’s northern slope, and each year, Green Corps has served as the grassroots field team to help defeat these efforts. In the fall of 2005, pro-drilling forces in Congress with allies in the Bush administration were pushing to include Arctic drilling in the federal budget. Drilling proponents hoped to use this back-door strategy to avoid drawing public attention to the issue, well aware of public opposition to drilling the Refuge. This was potentially the last stand for the Arctic Refuge.

With Congress set to vote on the budget that would open the Arctic Refuge to drilling, the Green Corps organizers knew that it would take people power to win. Launching massive grassroots and media campaigns in critical states like Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Michigan and New Hampshire, Green Corps organizers mobilized public outcry—with the goal of gaining the support of key House Republicans.

In New Hampshire, Green Corps organizer Mary Nicol’s work to educate Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH) resulted in one of the turning points of the campaign. Never a champion on environmental issues, Rep. Bass needed to hear from his constituents. Mary recruited over 200 citizen volunteers, including 52 activists that took an 18 hour ride to attend the Arctic Refuge Action Day in Washington, D.C. Using the skills she learned in Green Corps’ classroom training, Mary secured 35 stories about the Arctic Refuge in New Hampshire media outlets and signed on the New Hampshire Council of Churches to her campaign.

Responding to the public outcry on the issue, Rep. Bass became a champion in the fight to protect the Arctic Refuge, circulating a letter to fellow Republicans in the House about the need to prevent drilling. His letter gained the support of 23 of his Republican colleagues, successfully blocking Arctic drilling from inclusion in the House budget.

Other Green Corps organizers helped to bring thousands of concerned citizens to the Arctic Refuge Action Day in Washington, D.C. on September 20—the largest environmental lobby day organized in U.S. history. The Action Day brought together 5,000 citizens to the U.S. Capitol to hear political, religious, and Native American leaders speak, including noted environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, and Senate Democrats John Kerry (Mass.), Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

Following the rally, Arctic Refuge Action Day participants visited House and Senate office buildings to persuade their congressional representatives not to allow Arctic Refuge drilling.

Due to the overwhelming public outcry mobilized by Green Corps organizers, the Arctic Refuge became the key issue blocking the federal budget process, and ultimately, the Senate also voted to block Arctic drilling in December 2005. The campaign was a huge victory, drawing national media coverage in The New York Times, Washington Post, and countless other news outlets.

Click here to read The New York Times article.