That has been a big subject for a while on radio around here. It is a bunch of blaming an entire political party for not drilling. The term "tree hugger" is tossed around a bit about not drilling in Alaska and harming the wildlife. It gets annoying after a little bit. It isn't just as simple as that.
um..it really is as simple as that..
and there really is an entire political party to blame for not drilling..
its just a basic fact..
I'm torn. If it can be done responsibly and on a small scale so as not to decimate the Alaskan wilderness, then ok. I just seriously doubt that it can be done that way. I can't help but feel that as soon as one hole is dug and that door is opened a little, greed will pour into the area and it'll look like a man-made industrial hell. We here on TF should understand the idea of what happens when greed moves into pristine natural areas.
I'm more interested in this new discovery under North Dakota. Tons of oil without the threat of shipwrecks in the ocean, less distance to travel since it is already in the lower 48-sounds ideal to me.
The thing is..if we drilled in Alaska, it would be SO much more environmentally friendly than the current oil drilling in the middle east! which we have no control over when it comes to protecting the environment..
So which would you rather have, "environmentally responsible" (as much as possible anyway) drilling in alaska,
or burning and leaking and blown-up oil wells in the middle east?
From a "whole earth" perspective, it makes a lot more sense to let the US do the drilling, where the environmentalists can watch over it (which yes, I think is a good thing)
rather than totally uncontrolled and very messy and poluting drilling in the rest of the world...where our oil comes from currently.
Drilling in Alaska, and getting less oil from the Mid East as a result, would be BETTER for the environment, on a global scale, than NOT drilling in Alaska..
The oil has to come from
somewhere...
IMO it should come from the place that is best equipped to protect the environmant while drilling and producing that oil..
that is NOT the Mid East..its us.
Environmantalists should FAVOR drilling in Alaska...because it would be better for the global environment as a whole..
The Mid-east is part of the world..the unchecked pollution that happens there effects the whole world..
you cant "Save Alaska" while the rest of the world goes to hell..
when it comes to protecting the environment, you have to think globally..
Scot