Drilling to begin soon
Drilling in the Acrtic looks like it will finally get out of the Senate as the Democrats are weaker this because the Republicans are planning maneuver to push it through that would avoid the treaty of a Democratic filabuster.
Something I've never been able to find in any of the materials on Alaska arctic oil drilling is whether it will actually do anything to free our dependancy on foreign oil. Is it a pie in the sky idea or practice? Does anyone have any references? I'd really like to know, even though the environmentalist in me (as I'm sure you can tell from the picture) doesn't like the idea regardless.
posted by T. Hildebrandt at 9:56 AM
2 Comments:
Ok, I'm sure there's a way it can be done safely. I'm also sure there's some way to ensure that companies that drill there maintain practices that are environmentally safe, and if not, they pay LOTS.
I doubt it will do a ton to alleviate our need for foreign oil. America will have to have an entire shift in energy-use culture to make a change, and right now that's too damn slow for my liking.
As an Alaskan, I like to think I have some insight on this...
While I have some concerns about the wildlife breeding grounds, I am willing to accept the assurances of the energy companies that they will do everything they can to protect them - based in part on the fact that any drilling will be under intense scrutiny from enviromental groups. A secondary factor is that most of Alaska is a vast barren beautiful wasteland. Sure this would put our prints on a mostly pristine landscape, but the landscape is almost unimaginably vast. This corner of that georgeous canvas won't be overly missed.
The economic impact on my home state would be huge. The glory days of the original transalaskan pipeline probably won't be recaptured, but the money flowing into the state won't be inconsequential. Alaska has a thriving arts community, large open venues, and several public-works projects that were paid for by oil revenues. As a former member of that arts community, I'd like to see that tradition continued.
The projected reserves are not that large in terms of of our overall national consumption. But our trade imbalance coupled with our reliance on foriegn oil makes for an unsteady future. Yes, we need to have a sea-change in either our rate of use or our methods of production - preferably both. CAFE standards and actual-cost pricing are things to discuss somewhere else. But every little step gets us further along that path. We should take this one.
Post a Comment
<< Home