Jim Redelfs wrote:
We should drill for oil and gas in ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge)?
Why do you think Seward talked Congress into buying Alaska?
Do you think he would have ever believed that there'd come a day when vast
miles of it would be virtually off-limits to any resource harvesting?
That simply is not true though, as there is no part of
Alaska that is "virtually off-limits to any resource
harvesting". ANWR, for example, (and the parks on the
Canadian side of the border also) was established to
protect the resources required for several thousands of
people whose very way of life and existence relies upon
being able to harvest those resources.
Despite incessant impediments from environmentalists, the Tans-Alaska Pipeline
was finally built. But, Shazam! The devastation to the environment and
wildlife it was predicted to cause never happened. They were WRONG. They're
wrong now.
Again, that is simply *not* true! In fact the
environmentalists did complain loudly about the initial
design for a pipeline. That design, fortunately, was
never built. The process was held up until the legal
status of land title was settled, and in the years (1968
to 1972) while that was happening the State of Alaska
began studies on the North Slope to determine the
potential impact of oil production. One of the more
immediate determinations was that the claims from
environmentalist about the pipeline design were valid.
By 1974 when construction began, the design had been
modified to meet the requirements of both the
environmentalists and the State of Alaska; as a result
the pipeline has had relatively minimal environmental
impact (note that is "minimal", not "non-existent").
CF bulbs and set-back thermostats are NOT the final solution, even if there
was a problem. Heck, such measures aren't even a viable stop-gap.
We need more energy. Let's go get it. -Jim Redelfs
Let's use our heads and not go off half cocked with
cock-a-mamie ideas based on false information.
--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)