"The oil industry got coal in their
Christmas stocking rather than
presents. The defeat of the latest
scheme to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge
to oil drilling was a bipartisan
victory for conservatives and
conservationists.

This letter is to recognize and
thank U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach,
one of the twenty-one House
Republicans who kept Arctic
drilling out of the budget bill.
Had he not stood firm, Arctic
drilling would have been rushed
into law through a budget bill
that could not
have been filibustered.

Gerlach and his GOP colleagues
showed real courage in resisting
the House leadership and standing
up for their convictions,
the GOP’s conservation tradition,
and the wishes of their constituents."

—from an op-ed published by Chapter
President Sandy Moser in the
Local Daily News
Click here to read the entire essay.