Here's my take on drilling for oil in ANWR: ANWR is HUGE; the footprint of the necessary development is minuscule. If we need the oil, never mind how many weeks it will last, I don't think development will hurt the environment any more than a dirty postage stamp would mess up your front yard, assuming that you have a large one. The wildlife pays no attention to Prudhoe development, which is far larger that that proposed for ANWR. So, the short answer is I support President Bush's position on ANWR. Very few (hardly any) people will be adversely affected except in their own minds, preservationists. If we DON'T need the oil (ie, the Arabs come to their senses and quit the monkey shines) we can always hold off on ANWR.
Bear in mind, this position would NOT extend to the lower 48, say in wilderness areas like the Selway-Bitterroot and the Bob Marshall. If President Bush proposed drilling in these places (he's done no such thing) I would become his enemy. Not that drilling would hurt the environment all that much but that we have already identified the highest and best use of that land and it is NOT mineral exploration. I wouldn't object to drilling horizontally into these areas, provided it could be done without disturbing anything.
See, the real problem is neither in the Selway-Bitterroot nor the ANWR. It's in LA, New York, Peoria, Two-Dot Montana, and all the other populated regions of the world.
I'll say this, and hope I don't take too much flack before people think about it a bit: "The ecological balance is ALWAYS in PERFECT ALL THE TIME, FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS THAT EXIST AT THE TIME." If that ridiculous Al Gore movie "Day After Tomorrow" comes true (it never will), it is merely an adjustment in the ecological balance. When rats and cockroaches rule, the ecological balance will still be perfect FOR THE CONDITIONS IN PLACE AT THE TIME.
Mind you, I would prefer that the environment be allowed to choose for itself, on the lines of the Selway-Bitterroot and the Bob 10,000 years ago. That is not going to happen, as we all know.
Drilling for oil in ANWR is overwhelmingly supported by Alaskans. They hate paying taxes but love oil money. |
