madam chairman , i yield myself 3 minutes .  the arctic national wildlife refuge is a national treasure , a place of ancient wilderness that remains much the same as it was at the end of the last ice age .  it is one of the few places remaining in america where man has not scarred the land .  it is a place where roads do not pave the way and where the animals truly do roam free .  the refuge is home to the 130 , 000-strong porcupine caribou herd as well as polar bears , musk oxen and even more than 130 species of migratory birds .  all wildlife refuges have , by bipartisan consensus , been set aside to ensure that a few special places , natural places , will not succumb to the pressures of commercial exploitation .  the arctic refuge is one of the most unique wild and irreplaceable refuges of all .  if we allow the oil and gas drillers into this refuge , we might as well say good-bye to protection of all 544 refuges in this country .  the arctic national wildlife refuge is the crown jewel of the wildlife refuge system in the united states .  of those 544 refuges , it is estimated that 60 percent of them have the potential for oil and gas development .  overturning the 39-year precedent of never leasing a wildlife refuge to the oil companies where leases did not previously exist will set in motion a series of events that will endanger each of the other 543 refuges spread throughout the states and districts of the members of this body .  besides the wildlife refuges , drilling in the arctic refuge is widely seen as the first step in lifting the moratoria on drilling on the outer continental shelf of the atlantic and pacific coasts , specifically in florida and california .  the chairman of exxonmobil recently said that drilling in the arctic refuge is representative of the broader issue of whether drilling will be allowed in other environmentally sensitive places such as the coasts of california and florida .  in a 2003 speech to the republican caucus , house majority leader tom delay proclaimed the issue of the arctic refuge is about precedent and repeatedly referred to its symbolism .  matthew simmons , an oil industry banker and former bush adviser , recently told the new york times that if you can not do anwr , you will never be able to drill in the promising areas .  ladies and gentlemen , this is a huge test for us .  the republican majority has decided not to do anything about making suvs and automobiles more fuel efficient , and that is where 70 percent of all gasoline , all oil , goes , into those gasoline tanks .  instead of making those vehicles more efficient , what they have decided to do is to construct a gasoline station on top of the arctic wildlife refuge in order to fuel those inefficient vehicles .  we must stop them .  madam chairman , i reserve the balance of my time .  