Chilll Dabe. the article is wrong.

And while I have no problem drilling in ANWR, it aint going to help as the results are 10 years away, and the reserves are minor.

Let us agree that this is just a feel good solution.  You dont like it because of the Caribou. I dont care because it solves nothing.

See?  we can agree, even if for different reasons.

Dabe - do you really have to run off jumping to conclusions so quickly?

First, there's serious debate about how much oil could come from these reserves.

Second, the ability to get the oil without actually disturbing wildlife and the environment is also open for debate.

Finally, the fact that it may take 10 years to get oil from this source doesn't give anyone an excuse for not attempting to harvest these resources -- in fact, it makes it all the more disgusting that a few environmentalists and their bought and paid for lobby in the Congress have locked these resources away despite numerous possibilities to get them with minimal disturbance.


The pictures that were shown earlier today by the A.P. were another great example of media bias as they show what seems to be a paradise, when many would testify that the area is far from it, and is much closer to barren waste land.


I'll hold off judgement on the actual impact until after a drill is driven into the ground. Hell, between now and then we might see several lightning strikes that cause start more forrest fires that clear what foliage is in the area. If all that is left is charred grounds with oil underneath, will you and others still be crying that the Bush administration and the Republicans in congress (who have wanted to allow access to these reserves for years before W. ever took office) have done the wrong thing?

Why do all anti-drilling articles read like Bambi? Can't people see when activists are trying to end-run around their cerebrum and play on their heart strings?

Frankly, I prefer it when people give me the actual dangers and long-term effects of an act, instead of just an Audubon-for-the-blind description of what may or may not be in danger...

And when have you ever needed a reason to hate Republicans, dabe? As a hateful person I would assume it is instinct.

All those caribou, despite the Alaska Pipeline. The dire predictions of the devastating impact on the caribou from the pipeline not only failed to materialize, the herd has quadrupled in size since the pipeline was completed. The facts just don't comport with your hysterics, dabe.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Let me express my problems with the ANWR drilling. There is simply not enough oil there to justify the cost to the environment. I agree that, if this was a serious solution to our dependence on foreign oil, then at moderate cost to the wild life population of Alaska we can drill. There is simply not enough oil there. This is not a solution. Its a waste of land and government money, and the only people it's helping are the oil companies (when I say government money, we would be still protecting the oil, for the major companies, and we have wasted billions protecting the land already from development and drilling).

ANWR drilling is going to happen. We might as well turn our focus to keeping the project honest. Senate just pushed it forward a little more with at 51-49 vote. An evermore oil-thirsty country is inevitably going to drill on territory it owns even for the possibility of a big find.

You can mark my words.

"Oil may start flowing in ten years, maybe, and maybe enough for about 6 months reserves. But, the cost is so high. And we Americans are paying through the nose. And the oil industry will be laughing all the way to the bank. Freakin' pigs."

Lets see..where do I begin....early estimates put the amount of recoverable oil in the range of 10 billion barrels....kinda putting that line bout 6 months reserve in the garbage.....second, out of ANWR's roughly 19 million miles, out of the 1.5 million miles of coastal region in ANWR actually sanctioned for possible drilling now or in the future, only a tiny 2,000 miles are being looked at......

We are seeing the price for oil rise, not because of the instability of the oil producing nations, not because of terrorism....but simply because of the ever increasing demand by emerging nations....China and India to name a few...although the lack of new refineries in the US has a small part of the blame...the big bad oil companies have been trying to get premission to build new ones for quite some time....so much for trying to do something positive.

I only have one last thing....your term 'frigin pigs' to describe those in the oil industry does make me shake my head and laugh.....I would suggest you take a minute and look at what those bad people create via their production of oil.....remember only 50% of all drilled petroleum is actually used for fuel...the rest goes to many products we never would have thought a second about...if people wanna protest drilling in ANWR reducing our imports even for a decade or more....fine...dont drive a car, live in a modern home, dont use anything modern..live in a tent...in the woods....then at least you wouldnt be morally hypocritical in your rants......

Its a waste of land and government money,

How is it a waste? no Government money is spent, and except for a few rookeries for Ravens (Yep!) no waste of land, unless yo are into photography. The caribou dont care a wit.

early estimates put the amount of recoverable oil in the range of 10 billion barrels

US Geologic Survey estimated 5.7 billion recoverable barrels in 1998. Furthur tests have shown that this number might be high. That 10 billion (or above) figure hasn't been current since the late 80s. Time to buy some new encyclopedias.

The United states consumes a little over 10 billion barrels of oil in one year, with demand increasing all the time. So, with your estimate, we get one year of oil (at current consumption) and by the 1998 estimate we get -- drum roll please -- six months.

Now what was that about a line being put into the garbage?

Cheers.

thank you, Myrrander, for your explanation. The righties like to patronize us by saying all we care about is the caribou and bunnies. Bullshit. It's not that I don't care about the animals (which of course, I do), it that the entire very sensitive habitat will be destroyed forever whereever they put down their drills. No going back ever. And for what? Six to twelve months of oil, at best. And, maybe in about ten years we'll get that six months. Maybe? It's a nothing solution, for a huge cost, for only a few to get rich. It's a travesty. It's a disgrace.

"It's not that I don't care about the animals (which of course, I do), it that the entire very sensitive habitat will be destroyed forever whereever they put down their drills."

Perhaps you'd like to make a prediction as to the effects of the drilling? Maybe along the same lines as the predictions that were made about the Alaskan pipline as mentioned above.

Where are the people protesting against nature? How many habitats are destroyed by wildfire and volcanos and whatever else? Me, I say none. The earth changes. Some changes are made by the creatures that muck around on it, others are made through environmental processes. Both are "natural processes". We aren't aliens from another planet, we are a functioning indiginous species like ants or caribou or anything else.

Ask the termites if they give a shit if they are ruining your habitat...

Here's my compromise article on this subject. Guarenteed to irritate some of the left and right. Link