Sarah Palin and ANWR Drilling
Presumptive Vice President nominee Sarah Palin is already hard at work to keep America independent of foreign oil. After all, that is what Americans are most concerned about, right? Prices at the pump are slowly draining Americans of hard earned cash, and we are importing triple the amount of oil that we were 25 years ago. So what’s the problem?Well, honesty seems to be an issue here.
Palin’s suggested plan is to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a region of land in the north specifically set aside for the preservation of nature, and the animals that live in it. It was set aside in the 1960s under Eisenhower, and Congress strengthened the protection of these lands in 1980s. The area is fairly rich in resources, especially petroleum.
To quote Governor Palin,
“Thanks to advances in technology…we can now reach all of ANWR’s oil by drilling on just 2,000 acres,” she said. “Two thousand acres is the size of the Columbus [Ohio] airport. By applying the most innovative environmental practices, we can carry out the project with almost no impact on land or local wildlife.”
Awesome! Only 2000 acres! That surely only puts a small dent in the over 19 million acres set aside in the reserve, and would provide a great source of domestic oil, right?
Wrong. Sarah Palin is misleading you, in true McCain form. Fitting she was chosen as his VP.
Let’s examine her claim. Currently there are no roads, no settlements or towns, and no sign of human existence in the refuge, especially on the coastal range where Palin is planning to drill. In fact, barring an Inupiat settlement in the South, this area is pure and uninhabited. Part of it has even been deemed the location most remote from human trails, roads, or settlements, according to Wikipedia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_National_Wildlife_Refuge)
But with advancing technology, the proposed oil derricks will only take 2000 acres of space, leaving plenty of room for the refuge. So why is this a problem?
With no existing infrastructure, there is no way to transport the oil. No way to provide clean practices when drilling, and nowhere for employees to live, eat, or sleep. The drill sites, airports, roads, gravel mines, and other infrastructure required to drill an area like the northern coast of ANWR would stretch over a million acres of land, at a conservative estimate. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) did the math, and put the estimate at a less conservative 1,500,000 acres. So much for 2000 acres. The NRDC put together a great visual map of the land and how the infrastructure would look if the drilling was approved by Congress:
(http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arcticmap_2000acres.pdf)
And that is another good point, let’s talk about Congressional approval. For now, Congress enjoys a Democratic majority, a majority who would (hopefully) never allow destructive legislation like this to pass. This is the equivalent of taking a beautiful painting created by a world renowned artist and destroying the original, reprinting it in black and white to save the cost of color ink. I don’t think any rational human would do a thing like that. This isn’t land we can recover once industrial sprawl has taken over and pushed thousands (if not millions) of inhabitants away.
The answer is not to become independent of foreign oil by drilling in our wildlife preserves, the answer is to be less dependent on oil altogether. It is clear America will be dependent on oil for years to come, but we can reduce the load by turning to alternative fuels, green energy in the form of tidal surges, wind power, and solar energy. Biofuels, hydrogen-powered vehicles, or investing in breakthroughs like BMW’s water-powered vehicles.
But all Sarah Palin wants to is drill drill drill, destroy, invade, and mar natural resources, while lying about the impact to the American people. Don’t fall for it.
And don’t forget, Sarah Palin is literally in bed with the oil companies, as her husband works for BP again, even after resigning to avoid conflict of interest with Palin’s gubernatorial campaign.
You decide.
Will add more opinion coming up after work today.
