Should we drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

[ginshun]

Apperently the senate thinks so.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it.

What do you guys think?

 

[Bammx2]

no

 

[ginshun]

any special reason?

 

[OUMoose]

no

I agree.

Jabbing more holes in this rock we live on is a futile answer at best. IMO, we should take that money we want to spend on drilling and dump it into alternative fuel/energy R&D. Granted, that's very idealistic thinking.

Also, drilling in a wildlife refuge seems a little counterproductive to the idea of a piece of land set aside for a given ecosystem to survive. Will they allow hunting next? How's about we start drilling in the great barrier reef? To heck with trying to preserve any of this icky nature stuff. Our kids can see the stuff in books and on TV, right?

 

[The Kai]

No, can't we leave the small area of the planet set aside alone?? Oh there will always be a compelling reason oil, dams, hunting, lumber or just for the heck of it. Maybe, SUV's should be discouraged and Hummer's just outlawed before we start complaining!

 

[Flatlander]

According to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment - Report and Reccommendation to the Congress / Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement from April 1997*, there is a 19% chance that economically recoverable oil occurs in the "1002" area. In exchange for these odds, "potential major effects on wildlife from production are limited to the Porcupine Caribou herd and reintroduced muskoxen. 'Major biological effects' were defined as: 'widespread, long-term change in habitat availability ot quality which would likely modify natural abundance or distribution of species.'"

This would result in a potential for "3.2 billion barrels" of recoverable oil.

According to this data the US used 20 million barrels of oil /day in 2002. That's 7.3 billion barrels per year.

What's being discussed here is the destruction of preserved land to satisfy 5.25 months of US demand (according to 2002 figures).

Good trade?




* - http://library.fws.gov/Pubs7/ANWR_coastal_LEIS.pdf

 

[Blindside]

I am a wildlife biologist for a national wildlife refuge, the same service (US Fish and Wildlife Service - Refuge System) that manages ANWR, so I am completely biased.

I am against drilling in ANWR, I just think that some parts of this planet should be left wild, and extractive industries leave a far greater footprint on the landscape than the industries will tell you.

I highly recommend you take a look at this to get a feeling of the region that will get drilled. These photos were taken last year.

Just to point out a couple of misconceptions....
National Wildlife Refuges are established to be primarily for wildlife, unlike the National Forests or Parks. However most (something like 85%) are open to hunting. We have priority public uses: hunting; fishing; environmental education; wildlife photography; wildlife observation; and evironmental education and interpretation.

Lamont

 

[thepanjr]

hell no that just bad

 

[Deuce]

The fact of the matter is, we as humans have developed a strong dependancy on oil and gas resources. Major lifestyle adjustments or significant technological advancements must be developed before this changes. Unitl then, we need to harvest our natural resources.

Oil/gas exploration and extraction has come a long way with it's technology and practices to prevent adverse environmental and wildlife impacts. The economical consideration is another issue to be looked at. With the approximate 10.4 billion barrels of oil extracted from this area, the need and cost associated with importation of oil will be decreased significantly. This will also result in many job oppurtunities for the American people.

It's a matter of environment vs. economics, and with the unlikely negative envionmental impacts, IMO economics should prevail.

 

[rmcrobertson]

Oh, absolutely we should. After all, it's completely stupid, pointless, and destructive, and it'll make Hizzoner's friends in the oil industry a ton of money without doing a thing to help our energy needs.

Into the bargain, the folks who brought us the safety record of the Exxon Valdiz can help screw up one of the last remaining wild places on Earth--I mean hell, we can always import another ecosystem from, say, Mars. And then, we can continue on our hell-bent, dick-waving process of turning the planet into one big mall.

Because to judge by our increasingly obese, stressed-out, and violence-prone society, this is working out real well for us all. Everybody's happier and happier every day.

Sorry, but I have no intention of being even moderately polite about this sort of greed and stupidity. This is precisely why over the next fifty years, we're going to get a real worm's-eye view of what it's meant to keep re-electing politicians as irresponsible as George Bush.

 

[The Kai]

Hey, you know what since it's working out so great for use lets go to foriegn country and force your lifestyle and judgements down thier throats-of course, at gunpoint if neccassary. Bonus if they are one of them there non christian countries. Extra Bonus if they gots oil

 

[michaeledward]

I lost the last election. Since then, I have purchased Exxon Mobil Stock ... why the hell not. Let's hear it for the destruction of the planet.

What I find especially ironic, is that the Honorable Senator Gregg, from my home state, highlights on his Senate web site (www.gregg.senate.gov) his environmental record, and how much he has done in the Upper Connecticut River Watershed. ... Then He goes and votes to rescind the Super Majority Requirement for this act. ... Jerk.

I almost filed as a candidate for Senate yesterday. But Gregg was part of the class of 2004 ... he's got that seat til 2010.

Just keep buying stock in the oil companies. That's where all the money is going. Play by their rules.

 

[shesulsa]

Dan already made the factual point I was going to make, so I will move on to another point:

It chaps my pants that humans think economics is the key to our survival on this planet. We need to think longer than the dollar stretches here. Humans cannot live on this planet if we are the only living organism here. We flourished as a species here because of the planet's state when we "took over". Now we are destroying our own environment so that we can be happy and others can get rich.

To rape a refuge in such a way for such a reason and for such short-term gain is morally unforgivable and, to use right-wing vernacular, evil.

 

[OUMoose]

However most (something like 85%) are open to hunting. We have priority public uses: hunting; fishing; environmental education; wildlife photography; wildlife observation; and evironmental education and interpretation.

My bad. Thanks for the correction!

 

[Bammx2]

any special reason?

I do apologise for not stating a reason...been a bad 48 hours and had the brain on other things.
BUT......
God Bless....everyone else has answered for me!:asian:

I have no respect for any agency of any type who refuses to leave well enough alone.
Personally, I have no need for all this oil.All it does is raise my taxes.
I don't drive or even own a car.I don't use it to heat my house...I don't NEED oil for anything.
Neither does anybody else for that matter. Need for your car? Go electric
Need it for your house,go solar.Put on a sweater in the winter time.
All of these big corperations are trying to make a monolopy on life so you have no choice...or so they would like to think.
Example.......
The Hemp plant, probably THE most versitile plant on the planet,clothes,paper,OIL for candles and lanterns,etc....
Why did it become illegal at the turn of the last century?
Because a gent by the name of Randolph Hurst (damn rich) owned lumber companies, and when he found out you could do more with 1 acre of hemp and and approxamately 4yrs growing time as compared to 40 acres of lumber and approxamately 7yrs growing time, he knew it would put the lumber industry out of buisiness and ALMOST put him in the poorhouse,he had a word with his good friend and fellow lumber industry man,President Theodore Roosevelt....low and behold, Hemp was illegal! and so was its cousin...marijuana because it had all the similar qualities...cept one

So in my opinion..screw the oil corperations!

Want more proof? go ask the amish if they will die with out oil!

 

[rmcrobertson]

1. Oh. So our only two options are: a) lay waste to our country so we can waste more energy; b) invade other countries, lay waste to their country, and take their oil so that we can waste more energy.

2. What makes me furious about this is that a four-year old knows better. All we have to do is apply very simple, basic rules about conservation. Nothing tricky, nothing expensive--but, I guess, arrogant narcissism is easier than giving little things like the world and our air supply and our national heritage the slightest thought.

If anything reveals what an irredeemable crowd of greedheads our current Admin really is...

 

[Flatlander]

Did you say "Air Supply"?

*ahem*

*singing*

I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you;
I know you were right, believing for so long.
I'm all out of love, what am I without you;
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong.

:uhyeah:

 

[Feisty Mouse]

Absolutely not.

Others have already stated more succinctly (and calmly) some of my thoughts on the matter.

 

[michaeledward]

What makes me furious about this is that a four-year old knows better.

Do you suppose the President would read a book that said this ?

Heck, maybe we should send some copies to Laura, and she can read it to George....

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

 

[raedyn]

What's the point of even calling something a wildlife refuge if the gov't will turn around and approve this sort of development?

But then again, this regime has previously proven that it's willing to say two completely contradictory things in the same breath and expect to be taken seriously. (see Bush's "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table," comment for example)

I hope this desicion will be reversed.
Having said that, I'm not holding my breath.