Drilling in Alaska

NO:
Why destroy a wildlife refuge for only a five month supply of gasoline?

After less than eight weeks n office, President George W. Bush has declared he will reverse his campaign pledge to control emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent, and open the pristine bounty of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as pay back to his oil drilling benefactors.  Bush's energy policy is simple: provide as much energy as possible as long as it is supplied by the oil, gas and mining industries that paid my way to the White House.

How any self respecting investor knows the best way to protect your assets for the long term is to diversify your portfolio.  America has spent the past 25 years failing to apply this wisdom to our energy policy.  Despite clear signs that continued dependence on oil, gas and coal are causing increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather patterns worldwide, not to mention disruptive price fluctuations and periodic wars in the Middle East, Bus has endorsed a policy destined to hurt many Americas.  Bush claims that drilling in the Arctic Refuge can solve the current California energy crisis Keep in mind that California doesn't make its electricity with oil and only 1 percent of oil from Alaska finds its way into California's cars. In short, Bush LIED.

LET THE CARBON WARS BEGIN:
The U. S. Geological Survey estimates 2.6 billion barrels of oil is economically recoverable from below the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.  Enough to run our cars for five months, and it will take the oil boys either years to get it down there anyway. Bush and Vice President Cheney walked into this so called crisis that has been manufactured by their former oil men colleagues who have successfully lobbied and paid politicians to keep our offices, homes and cars from achieving high levels of energy efficiency like our competitors in Europe and Japan.

If we embraced efficiency and a clean energy future, the very notion of punching holes in the Arctic Refuge would seem preposterous. The administration has leaned on Alaska's Republican Sen, Frank Murkowski to champion its dirty energy agenda on Capital Hill, which has met harsh examination i the Senate and has already spurred massive public opposition.
 

Furthermore, Bush has now backed off his campaign pledge to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning power plants. He has failed to realize that energy policy is global warming policy. He has failed to realize there is opportunity, both economic and political, in leading the country to a diverse energy plan that frees us from still more devastating oil exploration to power our economy.

But on the positive side, these retrograde policies have sparked long needed debate.  I say let the carbon wars begin..  The country's energy woes are begging for long term, innovative, clean solutions like solar and wind power.  Meanwhile, Bush is trying to answer with a [page out of his failed oil companies play book, keep drilling and never mind the global impact of burning fossil fuels.

Bush's broken campaign promise is sure to haunt him for his entire term and may be even more hazardous to his re election than breaking the "No new tax" pledge was to his father..  As for  his other promise, to lead our country into the 21st century, he is currently heading toward the early 19th century. Lets hope Bush turns around before he proposes bringing back the Pony Express.  Read my lips, Mr. President, serving the oil companies instead of the Americans you are supposed to represent will be a short ticket back to texas.

U. S. can tap into vital oil reserves without jeopardizing nature's treasures.

When we look at Americas energy policy for the last eight years, it seems we  have become a tightrope walker with vertigo. We are alone on the tightrope with the wind picking up. Our energy security is at risk.  Last year there was a 50 percent increase in the cost of gasoline and home heating oil, making us worry about the supply for this spring's driving season. Our growing reliance on natural gas on natural gas to produce electricity has caused prices to trigger California's electricity crisis.

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.. Senate have introduced a rational energy policy that will encourage the production of environmentally friendly energy in America while promoting energy conservation and the development of alternative and renewable fuels.  The bill will help low income families deal with the escalating cost of energy, so that America gains time to develop new energy sources for the 21st century, increasing both production and efficiency.  The bill also will launch an informed debate over whether we should develop more of our own domestic energy.

Some have contended that oil exploration in a tiny sliver of the Arctic coastal plain will only yield six month supply of oil, and only at the cost of the destruction of a prestine wilderness.  In reality, this assertion is at best misleading and m at worst, dangerous.

According to the latest estimates of the U. S. Geological Survey, what is really at stake is 16 billion barrels of oil, an amount sufficient to replace all of our imports from Saudi Arabia for the next 30 years.  But just as important is the fact that this oil can be moved to consumers in the Lower 48 without harming the wildlife that inhabits the coastal plain only during the short Arctic summer.

Over 25 years of experience at nearby Prudhoe Bay has shown that energy production and the environment can successfully coexist..  At the time Prudhos Bay was discovered, some claimed that oil development would destroy the Central Arctic caribou herd.  Today, that herd has more than tripled in size.

It is clear that we have created the technology that will develop the oil and protect the environment.  The 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the size of South Carolina.  In 1980, Congress declared 8 million acres of the refuge as strictly protected wilderness, and an additional 9.5 million acres as refuge island. Mindful that the remaining  1.5 million acres represents North Americas best hope of a super giant oil discovery, Congress designated the coastal plain as a  "special study area" that could be open to oil and gas leasing..

In the intervening years, a federal environmental impact study has shown that exploration can occur during the winter, when animals are not present and when absolutely no habitat disturbance would occur, to determine if any recoverable oil is even present.

In the event that a super giant oil field is found, the oil can be developed using advanced directional drilling technology that would disturb less than 2,000 acres or less of the flat tundra.
In other words, we can determine if the oil is even there with no environmental impact. The sad fact is , at present, we aren't even allowed to look.  i believe the winds of change are blowing as Americans realize that we must straighten out our energy policies.  We can balance our concern for the environment.  It's time for us to regain that balance before the lack of an energy policy makes us crash down.