Thank you for the link pocket, It was under Carter, he was president till Jan 20th 2001
If you read the link you would see ANWR has been federally protected since 1960. Also, I think you mean Clinton not Carter was president until Jan 2001. I know that many, who reside on the the dark side, are of questionable intellect. I don't think that applies to you however, so I'll just assume that is a mistake.
You ever seen ANWR? It's an ice tundra that no one visits.
A national impact study by Wharton Econometrics estimates total employment at full production in ANWR to be 735,000 jobs. Federal revenues would be enhanced by billions of dollars from bonus bids, lease rentals, royalties and taxes.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, located within the Arctic Circle in northeast Alaska, consists of 19 million acres. Congress approved exploration in the so-called 1002 Area, but President Clinton vetoed that measure. The debate in Congress today centers solely on this small section; the remaining 17.5 million acres of ANWR lie in the protected enclave that cannot be developed.
Opponents of drilling in ANWR claim it is the nation's last true wilderness, a hallowed place, and a pristine environmental area. Though such attributes describe much of ANWR, they do not accurately portray the 1002 Area.
The flat, treeless, coastal plain area at the top corner of ANWR is where the oil is located. winters on the coastal plain last for nine months; there is total darkness for 58 consecutive days; and temperatures drop to 70 degrees below zero without the wind chill. Summers are not much better. The thick ice melts, but it creates puddles on the flat tundra and attracts thousands of mosquitoes.
Drilling in the 1002 Area would occur during the harsh winter months, when operations will require the use of iced airstrips, iced roads, and iced platforms. It is estimated that there are 16 Billion barrels of oil there.
Opponents also allege that drilling in the 1002 Area would adversely affect the porcupine caribou. These same naysayers predicted similar results for Arctic caribou in the nearby oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. Since drilling began there over 20 years ago, the Arctic caribou herd has grown from 3,000 to 27,500. Nor is there a threat to the polar bear. Alaska's polar bear population is healthy and unthreatened. No polar bear has been injured or killed as a result of extracting oil in Prudhoe Bay. Furthermore, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, which protects the polar bear in existing oil fields, also would do so on ANWR's coastal plain.
Yes Rob, I know all about the rather dubious arguments from drilling proponents. Since you brought up some perceived positives about Prudhoe Bay, it would only be fair if we took a look at the negatives. The formerly pristine Prudhoe Bay area now consists of:
28 oil production plants, gas processing facilities, and seawater treatment and power plants
38 gravel mines
223 production and exploratory gravel drill pads
500 miles of roads
1,800 miles of pipelines
4,800 exploration and production wells
Each year, the greedy oil industry spills tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and other hazardous materials on the North Slope, something I notice you didn't address in your response to my previous post. In fact, every day there is on average at least one spill either in the oil fields or at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. From 1996 to 2004, there were some 4,530 spills of more than 1.9 million gallons of diesel fuel, oil, acid, ethylene glycol, drilling fluid and other materials. Plus, I've already mentioned the major oil spill in 2006.
Each year, oil operations on Alaska's North Slope emit more than 70,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to smog and acid rain. Pollution from Prudhoe Bay has been detected in Barrow, Alaska, nearly 200 miles away. And pollutants from drilling operations, natural gas facilities and incinerators also have been detected in snow in the Prudhoe Bay area.
Because of the extreme cold, any physical disturbance...bulldozer tracks, seismic oil exploration, spills of oil and other toxic substances can scar the land for decades. The National Academy of Sciences concluded it is unlikely that the most disturbed habitat will ever be restored and the damage to more than 9,000 acres by oilfield roads and gravel pads is likely to remain for centuries.
I know, a bunch of stats, but they illustrate the inherit dangers and by products of any drilling operation. Prudhoe Bay, despite your caribou numbers, has been anything but an overwhelming success story. There is still a great deal of disagreement over whether drilling in ANWR would even be worth it, so let me ask you again....is there no place sacred or off limits to the greed of the oil industry, or do you feel that Exxon Mobil and others should be allowed to go about their merry way and drill, rape and pollute wherever and whenever they see fit?
