Bush presses for ANWR drilling
Published Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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Stumble It!WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush called on Congress to increase domestic production in response to soaring gasoline prices by approving legislation allowing oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden, President Bush said Democrats are standing in the way of legislation that could help cut rising gas prices at the pump.
“One of the main reasons for high gas prices is that global oil production is not keeping up with growing demand,” Bush said. “I’ve repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems. Yet time after time, Congress chose to block them.”
The national average retail price for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.60 a gallon, according to the automobile group AAA. Diesel is selling for $4.24 a gallon on average. About 60 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline comes from the cost of crude oil.
In Fairbanks, a gallon of regular unleaded costs as high as $3.82.
Bush said there was no “magic wand” to curbing rising pump prices, which are putting the squeeze on American families, and it would take time to boost domestic production and increase the nation’s refining capacities.
“But there is no magic wand to wave right now. It took us a while to get to this fix,” he said.
Experts say rising prices usually curb consumption and spur producers to drill for new oil, but with prices hovering around $120 a barrel, demand has continued to grow. Gas prices are expected to hit the $4 mark this summer in the Lower 48.
Bush criticized members of Congress for blocking attempts to open more areas of the U.S. to environmentally friendly exploration to ease pressure on demand.
Democrats have used procedural tactics in the past to block attempts to pass legislation opening ANWR. In 1995, Congress passed a bill to open ANWR to oil and gas exploration, but President Clinton vetoed it.
“If Congress is truly interested in solving the problem, they can send the right signal by saying we’re going to explore for oil and gas in the U.S. territories, starting with ANWR,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates ANWR could produce about 1 million barrels per day.
“That would be about a 20-percent increase of … crude oil production over U.S. levels, and it would likely mean lower gas prices,” Bush said.
But critics say such production would take a decade to reach the market and do nothing to ease the crisis.
“His claim that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will have any effect on gas prices is simply not true,” said Cindy Shogan, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. “The American public isn’t fooled; they know that gas prices won’t go down even if we started drilling tomorrow.”
Bush said Congress should send a message to OPEC, which has resisted calls to increase production, that the U.S. is ready to increase its own production if they don’t act to lower prices.
Alaska’s three-member Republican congressional delegation, which has long sought to open the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of ANWR to exploration, praised the president’s comments.
“The president’s message today was right on target. It’s time for Congress to put aside partisan politics and pass a bill to open ANWR,” said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. “With oil at $120 a barrel and gasoline at more than $5 a gallon in parts of Alaska, financially strapped families are demanding a new U.S. energy policy.”
Stevens urged his colleagues in the Senate and the House to stand up to “fringe groups” that continue to oppose opening new areas of the country to exploration.
“Our country does not lack energy,” said Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. “We lack the will to develop and produce it. We have the world at our fingertips when it comes to domestic resources and instead we choose to politicize everything.”
Stevens and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have introduced legislation that would automatically open the coastal plain of ANWR if the world price of oil tops $125 a barrel for five days.
Murkowski said the high cost of energy was “unacceptable” when the country could tap ANWR and other areas currently off-limits to oil companies.
“We owe it to all Americans struggling to budget in increased energy costs to move forward with oil and gas exploration in ANWR,” she said.
Community Discussion
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Better let the government go ahead and drill before they do it forcefully without asking
“We lack the will to develop and produce it." Well said.
What else is new.
Once again, Bush puts on a public display of stupidity.
Even if authorization to drill in the Arctic Refuge was given today, it would take 10 years for any oil to be refined and it would only drop the price of fuel by 1¢ a gallon.
How much oil is there? Enough for 6-12 months of current demand.
Spending billions of dollars a year, permanently damaging a pristine wilderness just for 1¢ a gallon price reduction is as a great example of Bush's economic policy & business sense, not to mention his math skills.
I love the environmentalists' arguement, "It will take 10 years. Why bother? Let's not do anything".
ANWR is a piece of the puzzle. We should have started 10 years ago, but we didn't. Because it would take 10 years.
Most people just don't get it. If we reduce our dependencies on foriegn oil, the price will drop. Prices will drop to well below $2 a galloon, due to the fact OPEC will finally take America serious. Also if more refineries are built, it would also send a message, that we are doing our part... Once again it's supposedly India and China thirst and demand for OIL, not America, yet in China they only pay $2.90.. We are already increase CAFE standard and vehicles are much more energy efficient. Every time America takes a stand for what the right thing to do is. The price just goes up. If say we want to save fuel, the price goes up and OPEC is the driving force. The Oil in ANWR and coastal area is vast. ANWR is potentially another Prudoe Bay, it's completely unknown at a minimum it over 30 millions barrells, or could be more then 30 billion. Don't let the nay sayers win. Also any oil pulled from under America stays in America.
So we're supposed to starve people by burning food for fuel, rather than exploit our own domestic oil reserves.
It seems to me if environmentalists really want to get the U.S. off the use of fossil fuels, the best and most certain way to do that would be to deplete our domestic reserves so that when foreign oil hits $300 a barrel we'll have no choice but to look for other options.
If they're right about how much oil is there, keeping ANWR closed is even more short-sighted than opening it would be.
If you all just listen to the news, you will hear that there is no problem right now with supply, that our refineries aren't even operating at full capacity, and that oil demand has dropped over the last 12 months. The issue here is the dropping value of the American dollar in relation to sttronger currencies like the Euro (or even the Canadian dollar!), and the incredible speculation that has pushed the price of a barrel of oil up to $120. So when you all up there enjoy your windfall Permanent Fund payment in November, you can use some of it to pay for the skyrocketing cost of fuel (and those Elton John tickets, btw, well worth it). As for us here in the non-oil producing East, we'll just suck it up. But drilling in ANWR? Please. Tell us another fairy tale, George.
The ten year argument...too funny! Good thing we didnt start drilling ten years ago, gas was only a dollar something back then, we wouldnt have made nearly as much money!! Now, I think just as Pinhead from the East said, it is not a shortage of oil or refineries, it is the weakened dollar. They are going to collapse the dollar totally until Americans are grasping for something that is worth something for currency. At that time, they will introduce the Amero or something equivilant, and the North American Union will be born. Ron Paul is trying to tell people about this, but they think he is a nut. Well, we will see how big of a nut he is. Such a shame that Americans give up freedom, civil liberties, their own identy as Americans just as long as they do not back that nut, Ron Paul.
Enough talking, let's get started doing something. One; drill ANWR. The development footprint in ANWR is like putting a postage stamp in the parking lots of WalMart, Lowe's, and Home Depot combined. Two; get started building the dam on the Susitna River. Alaska is a huge place...there's room for development with plenty left over for the enviornment.
STOP--no drilling!! We need to save Mother Earth-the Mother of us all. It is okay to pay high energy costs. It is our punishment for hurting the feelings of the Great Mother Earth. We all need to learn to eat tree bark and only use recycled goods!--Just kidding!
The environmentalists love to criticize the US for their contribution to pollution but take a good look at the rest of the world. The US is the cleanest country in the world. If you are a REAL tree hugger, leave the US and go tell other governments that pollution is more important than providing people energy and food and enjoy your stay in their prison camps. Ow wait, that means free rent and free food....environmentalist left wingers DREAM!!!
"The development footprint in ANWR is like putting a postage stamp in the parking lots of WalMart, Lowe's, and Home Depot combined"
Wrong. The disturbance to the ecosystem will be much greater than you are being led to believe. The 2000 acre figure of disturbance on the coastal plain that gets thrown around does not include all of the roads and pipelines, but only the actual drill pads. And unlike Prudhoe Bay, the mountains that lie parallel to the coastline will keep caribou from simply moving inland away from the drill pads, roads, pipelines, etc.
I love the willful ignorance of the enviromentalists. Let's not do anything then, I guess. They wouldn't be happy until we were all mushing dogs to work.
PETA would love that
What bothers me is whenever they mention ANWR on the news in the lower 48, they always show a picture of mount mckinley and wonder lake. They make it look like "if we drill for oil, they will bulldoze this and spill oil on everything".
Gopking--
I believe it is the environmentalists who are offering you a lot of suggestions, ranging from conservation to funding for the development of alternative energy and everything in between. I think you just don't like the messenger. If GHWB had ineloquently suggested riding your bike to work today, you'd probably be considering it, snow and all... and maybe you'd be thankful the whole time that someone told you what to do.
I am all for alternative energy, but if it was so viable and cost effective how come none of your liberal buddies like Warren Buffet and George Soros are not dumping any money into it?
Invent a new form of energy derived from BS. Then we can all plug into this blog for a boost.
Now that is funny.
I wish I would hear initiatives to find alternative sources for fuel rather than oil. But then again, this IS Bush we're talking about. What a joke. Ruin some more wildlife conservations only to get oil that will eventually run out, and then panic once again as to where there is more. It's a waste of time. I hope in the future to live closer to work in order to not spend one more penny on gas. This is ridiculous.
The best bumper sticker I have ever seen "SAVE THE EARTH, KILL YOURSELF." someone needs to bring this back to Fairbanks!!
Americans are stuck on stupid, stuck in front of the boob-tube, stuck in law-school on daddys Exxon stocks sucking on a crack-pipe with a Britney Spears lookalike bimbo pregnant girlfriend...
totally braindamaged, just like Geo Bu$hit, and that's the way he likes it.
Yukonjohn is seeing the big picture, Ron Paul is telling the truth.
Mike Gravel is now a Libertarian, and is right up there with Wally Hickel in my book.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?us...
http://www.gravel2008.us/
GWB was in Fairbanks for a couple months in 1974, and him and his gang of phoney blow-fly Texans he was running with at the booze-joints like KingsKup were causing big trubble in town, the cops ran and hid that month. My apologies to you all for not risking everything at that time to deal with that mental health menace then.
http://globalresourcecorp.com/
There is no such thing as "Peak Oil"... The CRISIS is a Hydrocarbon SCANDAL.. and a Power Scandal.. ENRON was just the tip of the iceberg.
The big challenge to the producers isn't drilling for oil&gas, it managing or "mining" the MARKET.
The dollar is going down because of too much parasitic drag in the economy, all of Alaskas Resources have already been mortgaged by NewYork derivatives junkies and sold off to foreign owners of Federal Debt.
It's not just Big-Oil, the problem is Big-Biz in general, including the automakers... orchestrating turmoil and chaos keeps their game going.
What's the opposite of PROGRESS ?? ..CONGRESS.
http://ni4d.us/
Yeah, I don't mind drilling in ANWR, just let it be a project managed by the University and the Inuit.
....flash/rumble
the university?
Please, they are a money losing monster.
Didn't you read the post from UAFgrad08? they did not even teach him enough for him to get a lousy job that pays good enough to buy gas.
who is ron paul?
Yeah, I'd budget the University $10million, or get fired. Making a moneymaker out of ANWR from scratch could be tough, but I could start a very successful hydrocarbon-biz there for $10mil...
...and the environmentalists would love me.
"Buy Enviro-Gas, only $10gallon, but next year it will be much cheaper!!"
If you can't fill an LPG-tanker ship parked at BarterIsland on a $10mil budget, then you don't know beans about gas. There's several LPG-Tankers for sale on the world market for under $1mil, and I'll just go have a few drinks with uncle Ted Stevens to get a JonesAct waiver for my boat.
I realize this issue is purely a political one.
But moreso than political, it's emotional. But, as usual, emotion is trumped by logic. (heh...)
What kind of oil is located in Lisburne?
What kind of oil is located in Milne Point?
What kind of oil is located in Endicott?
What kind of oil is located in Alpine?
What kind of oil is located in Northstar?
Now, on to the more important questions:
What kind of oil is located in Point Thompson?
What kind of oil is located in Badami?
What kind of oil is located in 1002/ANWR?
Sure, I know a lot of you think oil is oil is oil, and you just want to suck it all out of the ground so you can drive your 4MPG F-350, laden with 40" mudders and pay $1.59 for a gallon for the fuel to push it along.
But really, oil ain't quite that simple.
Ever wonder why Point Thompson has never been developed?
Ever wonder why the oil companies are so very quiet when it comes to establishing policy on 1002?
And, FWIW, even I didn't ride to work today.
90-10 Statehood Compact? Point Thomson? EXXON Valdez litigation? TAPS tariff disputes? US oil refinery capacity? EPA regulations? Pipeline maintenance? Alternate energy investments? Known but undeveloped US oil and gas deposits? There are lots of hard questions than need answers.
@2coldforme:
How much time have you spent north of the Brooks Range? Any?
Seriously.
"Alaskan voters as a group are the dumbest critters that ever crawled out of the primordial swamp." - SmallBob
I think most Alaskans would disagree with you there. Your representatives try all the time to open up ANWR, they are blocked by headless-hearted Democrats. But since you despise us so much please leave.
ANWR should be opened up because it would reduce the relative price of fuel in the following decade and the federal revenue could be used to subsidize R & D on alternative fuels. For example, say if the price of gas without ANWR be opened in 2020 would be $8.20 a gallon, with ANWR opened it would be something like $7.80 a gallon. So no, opening ANWR won’t decrease future prices relative to today, but it will decrease prices relative to what they would be with out ANWR being drilled, and the government revenue could be used to help fund R & D or healthcare.
@mel1776:
That's right. "If you don't like it, then leave."
That's one step away from taking your ball from the sandbox and going home.
Haven't we, the collective responders, been through this?
Regardless, I'd recommend that do some research into petroleum geology before responding and exposing your blatant ignorance to the issue at hand.
Why would we let OUR government open MORE lands in OUR state in OUR backyard just so the OIL COMPANIES can sell the OIL to countries in ASIA so OUR government can buy it back cheaper????????
(yes all oil from ALASKA gets shipped out to ASIA)
Drill in the YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK before you continue to drill in MY backyard...YES I've spent half of my life inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge & I plan to CONTINUE for as long as I live & my children's children
Drill in the YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK....
...yup, there's enough geothermal energy in Yellowstone to supply all of the power and transportation fuel for 200% of current usage in the lowdown48.
http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Geot...
[ same thing from Pocatello to Boise ]
Oil is a racket.
1. Ron Paul is right.
2. The North Slope is a pristine wilderness.
3. It is also a frozen wasteland.
4. The indigenous population supports oil development.
5. The government will waste the additional revenue.
6. I was a kid during the pipeline boom and I remember it fondly
7 We will never have another pipeline boom, don't even dream about it.
I can't believe some of the ignorance on here. I think most of us would agree that we can not use oil as a means of energy forever. I also think most of us agree that we'd like to see a cleaner form of energy become the norm, as well. That being said, what do we do in the mean time? We're not going to develop alternate energy sources so quickly that it gives some badly-needed economic relief to Americans. Don't get me wrong, developing oil in ANWR isn't going to lower oil prices overnight, but it will lower them down the road, especially if we're lowering our dependence on oil at the same time we're tappin ANWR because we'd be lowering our demand for oil. As far as those that are concerned about ANWR damaging pristine wildlife; I'm sorry but I think you're being completely irrational. The amount of land that would be affected by oil development in ANWR is next to nothing. I'd guess that most of us on here love Alaska's natural beauty and don't want to ruin it needlessly. However, there is a balance to be struck. Our economy is begining to collapse because of oil prices, our dollar is weak because our economy is weak. Oil prices are based upon speculation. Implementing solid plans to develop oil from ANWR and at the same time implementing solid plans to develop alternative forms of energy would lessen our future demand for oil, thus lowering oil prices. There is a balance to be struck between Bush and the Dems on this one. They could pass legislation that would accomplish both goals at once. They won't, however, because I fear out of Congress' over-politicization of this issue and contempt for Bush, Congress will remain willful impotent. We deserve better than that. The two sides could come to an agreement covering both ANWR drilling and alternative energy, but they won't......and we'll be the ones suffering because of high energy prices in the mean time.
Truth is, all our ideas suck.
I did leave after 24 years in FAI and statistics prove that most of you will also, by age 50.
I do think Alaskans have the right to do whatever they want with THIER state.
Reading the news and even watching the News Hour I'm confounded by the lack of interest in investigating the rampant speculation happening in the world's markets, especially fuel and food. There was a similar event in Southeast Asia in the 1990's, that time it was currency manipulation and it wrecked the economy of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
When you check it seems there is not a shortage of oil or grain, just high prices. Do you think this level of manipulation is fantasy? In the 1980's the Hunt brothers by themselves almost cornered the silver market. The dream of every major player in the "free market" economy is to control the markets. That's why they want no government control.
Geo thermal is cool, maybe that does not suck.
I bet if Bernie Karl ran the oil companies we'd all be rich!
Gopking-
Have you ever visited a drill site? I have. I work at them. (and I love them, but that's another story...) "The amount of land that would be affected by oil development in ANWR is next to nothing." is really not valid. No matter how careful you're being, the disruption that putting a hole in the ground causes is amazing. From heavy equipment to access road building to the rig itself--- all those things impact square miles upon square miles of the surrounding land--- just for one hole.
I've spent a decent amount of time in both the Brooks & the slope. Not, I might add as an oil company employee. I'm okay with drilling it, the technological advances in drilling technology have made it more economically feasible. I however do agree we should be keeping it for domestic use.
I know many of you will disagree with me & dismiss my post completely, but I really don't care. This is what I think, end of story. Let the bashing begin, enjoy kids!
Drill!!!! Let's take care of our needs here at home!
But then he could put that money into Geothermal technology!
This earths core is full of molten lava!
How about wind power, ever been to Barstow or Boron? How ugly is that.
People think they are nice, but their footprint is HUGE. Maybe if they were out on the ocean, like Nantucket sound?
sounds like most of this is assumptions...
how do you know that indigenous people want oil development? i am an indigenous person and i don't want it! neither does my whole family.. up and down the river and in the refuge... into the other side of the boarder.
have you heard of the gwich'in steering committee? they were formed specifically for this issue and appointed by our elders to protect our people and our way of life. we dont want it. we have travelled the world in support of this. walked the halls of dc. remember johnathan solomon, he dedicated his whole life to keep it closed to oil development. there are many, many others.. and more to come.. who will stand strong in our fight against opening ANWR and to keep living our way of life.
the price of oil is conditioning... read the article.. that is their main card
@princess: It never ceases to amuse me that people think "advances in drilling technology" automatically make things more economically feasible, but don't really don't know anything about petroleum geology.
oil development and pollution go hand in hand... there is no such thing as an environmentally safe way to drill.. keep ANWR closed. i'd rather not sacrifice ourselves...
the last frontier.. why do you think its called that?
i've seen the comments before.. go ahead with your stabs at my grammer... and i know some narrow minded person will throw in.. but the natives use snowmachines to hunt.. lol! does that mean we have to be completely assimilated into dominating culture?
i'm looking forward to good native food for many years!.. for my great grandchildren. say what you will..
okay for those of you who have or haven't been 'up north' around a drilling rig...employees aren't even allowed to wander too far from the HOLE they have or had drilled...IT IS TOO DANGEROUS! THE EARTH IS NO LONGER SAFE!
PLUS: ALL of the promises the OIL COMPANIES made us before the pipeline...WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?
broken
I stand with Gwinzii...
...when the folly of modern empires cause widespread collapse of top heavy monopolies I will quietly walk back to my grandfathers tribal lands and feel the time pass gladly again.
Alternative Energy. The only way King Pinocchio will let America seek alternative energy is after he and his fellow Republican Neo Cons have squeezed the American Citizens dry of cash. Lemme see, the tens of billions of American Taxpayer dollars the Neo Con owned oil and energy conglomerates receive was supposed to be for the construction of new refineries. To date none have been built. In the last 8 years how much money has the oil and energy conglomerates received from the American Taxpayers without their knowledge? Half a trillion dollars? 1 trillion dollars? Due to deregulations by the Republicans, the oil and energy conglomerates are able to pay their CEO's hundreds of millions of American Taxpayer dollars.
The greed and avarice displayed by these Neo Con Parasites is aided and abetted by the Conflict of Interest and Collusion challenged Republican and Democratic Legislators who accepts bribe money in exchange for prostituting their votes to pass laws and deregulations financially benefitting their Corporate Pimps and ultimately thereselves. Also passing laws to legally shield their Corporate Pimps and thereselves.
We have the oil and natural gas here in Alaska, but we pay the highest prices in the nation. Over $5 a gallon here. How much in the most remote regions?
For a couple thousand dollars in bribes the corrupted Legislators pass laws to give tax Breaks worth tens of billions of American Taxpayer dollars to each Neo Con owned Conglomerate. The bribes are themselves American Taxpayer dollars from the Tax Breaks.
The Secrecy and backroom dealings legitimized by King Pinocchio and Shotgun Cheney has made this possible.
If we had the fortune to open up Shotgun Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force Meeting Minutes, we would find the Neo Cons in the Executive Branch are in Collusion with the Neo Con owned Oil and Energy Conglomerates and ultimately the Neo Con owned News Media Conglomerates who are tasked with keeping the news focused on empty headed bimbos like Spears and Hilton and to refuse to print news about the Gutting and Usurping of the United States Constitution away from print
This comment will make a bunch of people mad but i dont care. I say drill anwr today. I get so sick of people crying it would hurt the land big deal the earth is going to hell anyway. What else are we gonna to with the land look at that sounds fun yippy it more mountains and streams and snow who cares. The oil companies up north take care of that land and they will with this. Sure they have mishaps now and again but they try to fix it.
sdoownek, your assumptions get you turned over again. I know more than the average citizen about geology in general & petroleum geology as a specialty. Unless of course those A's were because I was so cute.
tony you are brutal,
but you are correct,
the earth will burn
2 Peter 3:10
and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
How is that for Global warming?
Where is Newsreader when I need him?
Well then princess, enlighten us about drilling technology.
One thing folks should know; Unconformity - a break or gap in the sequence of rock layers. Unconformities are like pages torn out of a book. They represent periods of erosion during which part of the story in the rocks was lost. Why should you care? There is an unconformity in the coastal plain of ANWR. And the 'pages of the book' missing from the story? Well, they happen to be all the equivalent rocks that make up Prudhoe Bay. Weird, Huh?
How do I know this? I mapped it in the summer of 1987 as part of my thesis project for my degree at UAF.
My Prediction? There is not a drop of economically, recoverable oil any where near ANWR.
Number of people who believe me? None so-far.
Time will tell, time will tell.
Tony08 and 2cold4me, you're showing us an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
People who already believe that the earth is doomed are likely to live in a way that makes that story a reality. The sad part is, with every result of our continued environmental degradation, they are always proven right: "See, I told you the end times were near!"
Wouldn't you rather live out a different story? Perhaps one in which humanity repents of its excesses and turns the earth back into a garden?
I'm listening...done my fair share of mapping myself.
Sdoownek-
As I had a law class on international petroleum contracting, which included a large introductory section on the petroleum industry, I am likely one of the better educated commenters here on this subject.
People who object to ANWR seem to do so out of a hatred of humanity. We are “doomed,” we must “repent.” Humans are part of nature and we generally kick butt.
2cold4me --
Why are you calling for me???
You know I don't believe any of the junk in your book of myths... *grin*
Got to admit though, you are good at proving the old adage "you can find anything you want with the bible".
Of course, that doesn't mean that you actually PROVE anything, but, hey, knock yourself out...
[I've been using http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/kjv/ for specific searches lately, how about you?]
Why don't people believe me? I mean, of all the things you folks talk about, this unconformity is one of the few things you can actually go and put your finger on. Anyone can go to the south side of the Sadelerochit Mountains (just south of the coastal plain) and hike up to the point where all the rocks that make up Prudhoe bay (the source rocks, the resevoir rocks, the cap rocks) dissapear, eroded away, more than 69 million years ago. The rocks below the unconformity (the Katakturuk Dolomite) were formed during the pre-Cambrian (before life). At Prudhoe bay, you hit that stuff, you've drilled too far. And the rocks above are Cretaceous, deep water turbidites (thin layers of shale and very fine sand stone). At Prudhoe Bay, you hit this stuff and you haven't drilled far enough. This is not grade A stuff people generally associate with anything resembling a place where petroleum can be found.
But, I rattle on.
Just thought you should know.
One more thing.
These unconformities don't go forever. Somewhere to the north, this unconformity must dissapear as well. The question is, how far?
I'm confident it is beyond the boundaries of ANWR.
But like I've said, 'Time will tell'.
No paul your wrong i dont live in a way that makes your story a reality. I have cut way back on driving turned the thermostat way down bought all the little funky twisty bulbs to cut back on energy dont even turn lights on the tv is is bright enough. I just think we should drill and maybe it would cut back on depending on foreign oil is all why should they benefit from us any longer. Then maybe we could get affordable heating fuel and gas again. Maybe if we use our own oil they will drop the price of theirs who knows. I have a new phrase we should all start using instead of bunny huggers tree huggers and duck squeezers the real phrase should be pipefitter hugger of course they might not want to be hugged maybe by women i'll hug the women version though.
Check out the maps, if you know how to read geology, published by Robinson (http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/pubs/pub...)
God ...just get the drills in the ground and start the operation already and not just in Alaska! The G***amn EPA is a joke, the left wind liberals who think the Caribou will die from a pipeline being in place are joke, and all the alternative energy sources cost more to produce than oil. We need to quit pu$$footing around and get to work. We have plenty of our own resources (OIL) but all the jokes I mentioned above are the reason we arent doing anything with them. The combustion engine was designed to operate on fuel, and we got plenty of it, we just arent willing to do what needs to be done to get some of it. And if the idea that "It'll be 10 years before we see a drop" is holding us back, just wait 10 more years and see where we're at. Would love to ride a bicycle to work, but 12 miles at -40 degrees, its just not gonna happen. But..... if things get any worse up here you can bet your azz that I'll be looking for a place to live with a milder climate as we near the end of the combustion engine! The days off the movie Road Warrior are coming!!!!
People that are against something are usually so motivated because they have nothing to gain from the said thing. The indigenous people of the North Slope want to develop the resources on the land they control. The Gwichens complaining about oil development are doing so out of envy as there most abundant natural resource is mosquitoes. Similar attitudes have shown up at Chitina several years ago and now at the snowmachining hot spot of Cantwell.
And by the way. if you blame Pres. Bush for all the problems of the world then you must live in a very simple world.
Well then, "Not From North Pole", if the oil industries' geologists are as well informed as you are; and there is ""not a drop of economically, recoverable oil any where near ANWR""; then you and the environmentalists have very little to worry about.
Indeed, time will tell.
An amazing coincidence
When GWB took office 8 years ago, one of his main goals was to get drilling in ANWR passed. Since then and on his watch, the economy is in shambles, the price of fuel has nearly tripled, and we are on the verge of economic collapse. His solution: pass drilling in ANWR. Looks like we've come full circle with George. It remains to be seen, with mere months left in office, if he will be able to keep his shady promises to big oil companies or not.
duck squeezer?
I like that one.
NewsReader: I got the hard copy man!
A changed life is just one proof,
Paul: I agree, here is what I am looking forward to:
Revelation 21:1-4
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth..............And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
As far as destroying the earth because I believe it is going to burn anyway, if a Christian believes that, they are in deep doo doo:
Revelation 11:18
The time has come for the dead to be judged........ and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
#1 If you are not Alaskan, please do not comment! We don't give a 'rip ' about the decisions your state is making, so keep your nose in your own state. Seriously! You only stand to benefit. Stop trying to ruin it for yourself.
#2 Have any naysayers been to the ACTUAL proposed area of development on the Slope? FLAT, a long ways from the mountains, NOT the green valleys CNN keeps showing in their file footage. There are two items of comcern in the proposed 96 acre 'footprint'... sideways snow, and mosquitoes on steroids. What's left after the development is a capped and/or buried well casing. The QUAG will quickly return to its natural state.
Open it! The BOO will be fine... See it for yourself. Don't sit in Cali or NY and think you know anything. Put your energies into your own state. Finally, a single PFD MIGHT pay for 2.5 months of what we'll pay for heating oil next winter.
BTW, our winters average abround 7 months/year, or more, depending upon where you are. Thanks for all your concern. Open it already!
As an Alaskan I vote keep it shut! Forever!
wow! is that supposed to be your argument? because the land is going to hell anyway?.. thanks for sharing.
i am a gwich'in athabaskan and i am not crying. i am specifically rejecting the destruction of our home. where does it sound like i am crying? if you want to counter my argument than use facts rather than try to just make fun of people.
there has never been this pie-in-the-sky oil rig that has never left its devastating mark to the environment. they can talk about the "footprint" all they want. that is the best language that they can come up with to describe the disturbance this will cause to the refuge. a footprint is something made by a living being that has a sole. that is something that an oil company does not have.
remember that this is a national refuge. it was specifically created to protect this land.
there has been too many examples.. over and over and over again of the effects of oil development. we have to learn from the people who have experienced this same process. the people of the north slope, they have all become sick with a variety of respiratory illness. they are completely surrounded by oil development. many of their people are being diagnosed with CANCER at such an alarming rate.. it cannot be ignored. would you wish that upon anyone?
that was a funny joke about the mosquitos. but would you please explain to me how us gwich'in are jealous? and also i would like to hear how this "attitude" has shown up in the other communities.. maybe we could help each other. thanks
A vote would make it clear the people of AK want to have developement.
Get it done, but don't get screwed in the process.
If people can't afford to heat their homes, you will see a mass exodus from AK.
Excellent, Gwinzii. Beautiful.
Everyone else: If that didn't make you think, read it again.
a mass exodus out of alaska... imagine that
mahsi' choo
Thanks but while that would please you, I for one am not going anywhere, this is my home too.
mahsi' choo back at ya.
dont get me wrong. im not one of those people who say if you dont like it then leave. i was saying mahsi' to imusuallyright. im not here to get into personal business. but that is quiet a concept isnt it?
Bush introduced legislation to build refineries on old army bases, this was blocked by the Dem(on)s.So here we are the U.S. of A. importing 13% of our REFINED gas. Thanks Dems.Thanks also for shutting down our nuclear enrgy.Thanks for keeping us energy dependant ! I just can't tell u socialist pigs how grateful I am that you guys have made America so insecure.......
And what really ticks me of off about the Dems roadblocking any and all development, is Labor's role in this tragedy. I'm a lifelong union member, and I always thought that to have job rights, one must have a job. Labor has gotten in bed with the environmentalist movement to promote Democrats. I quit the Democratic Party 10 years ago just because I did not want to share goals with "shut down the earth" environmentalists.
Anything to spite the evil Republicans, or so it appears. This is wrong, and a disservice to dues paying union members. I am irate at the current national AFL-CIO leadership. Or lack thereof.
Just my 2 cents.
Gwinzii, I apologize for misunderstanding your intent. I will clarify in the future.
Gwinzii yep, yep, yep. There is so much oil in the Lower 48 (don't know about Hawaii) but their citizens don't want the destruction of their property / environment therefore ... go mess up Alaska. WRONG!!! Just wait and see. Bush will somehow make war with Iran or No Korea and declare martial law or something in order to keep himself & his cronies in office before the new President is able to take over in January. Then he will pass ANWR and anything else his evil mind can think of to increase his & his Big Oil bedmates (including Stevens & Young & Murkowski) monetary value. It is all about money, money, money!! Leave ANWR alone! Drill in the Great Lakes and in the "new" discovered fields in Montana & Wyoming which supposededly have many times more oil than ANWR, just not as out of the public eye as ANWR. God bless Alaska and protect us from evil.
Funny how some people blame the Democrats for keeping us energy dependent. I guess some people forget that it was Reagan that removed the solar panels from the Whitehouse that Carter had installed.
Oil is a finite resource and we're getting closer to the end than the start. Not only do we need a new source of energy to fuel our transportation needs & heat our homes, but something to replace the plastics that is used in just about every product that is manufactured. A greater emphasis is needed in increasing our renewable energy sources as well.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge does not solve our energy problems, our manufacturing, nor our economy. It will only damage a land that will take hundreds, if not thousands of years to recover.
It would be a major sacrifice by ALL Americans (and particularly for the Gwich'in) for something that is not likely to produce a worthwhile return on such a major investment.
It's no secret that Bush has always wanted to open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling, so a last ditch effort comes as no surprise.
Keep in mind that every business that he has had control of was run into the ground which is what he has been doing the same thing to the country for the past 7 years.
Hilarious.
Imusuallyright, I'm going back to not bothering. It's just not fun--sort of like trying to teach a pig to sing.
They'll think what they want. Facts don't matter.
Makes sense, sdoownek. Nice effort, though.
The only reason there are people on the north slope is the natural resources. If humans did not exploit the easy to harvest resources of scenery, beluga whales, caribou, or minerals, we would not be up there. Not that the environment or the resources up there are user friendly, but that it can be done. When nature provides a bountiful harvest, we should graciously accept it and prepare for a tough winter.
Alaska has more known oil reserves than we had at the height of Prudoe but now production is hamstrung by Federal regulations. I am still amazed at the lack of development of our infrastructure to the point that we still rely on boats, bush planes, and sleds to travel to the remote villages. At the same time we are bombarded with out-of-state politics about everything from polar bears to commercial fish harvests.
The comments about a drilling operation impacting the land are all fair. Big oil has paid for a lot of environmental studies that otherwise would not get funded or conducted. Yes drilling has an impact, but so does a village. The difference is that a drilling operation is temporary and has to restore the land when it is done. However, a village will eventually grow into a town or move to a more resource friendly location leaving a scar to be reclaimed by the land. Someone please show me a clean or earth friendly human village that provides more positive environmental impact than that of a profitable business that complies with federal regulations.
"complies with Federal regulations" is the problem. It's much often cheaper to pay fines associated with non-compliance than it is to play by the rules in the first place.
your analogy is very simplistic. im not sure that i see your point. do you mean because we exist and take up space, that we should be compared to an oil rig? it just doesnt make sense to compare the two. but i will try..
you also compare people who subsistence hunt with oil development. the difference is one is an indigenous person who lives with the land and has respect and intimate knowledge of that land. the other is a big ugly oil field that spews pollutants and causes great disruption with the natural environment and sucks all of that carbon that the earth has nicely tucked away over millions of years and spits it back out into the environment. and you say that that will just go away?
hmm... when does that happen? because the oil fields that i see in alaska dont seem to go away. they seem to keep growing and growing and growing...
Yes, the facts do matter.The facts are that we dont know for sure.The facts are that Mother Nature has caused more irreversible damage to the earth than man has ever done.Take a boat ride in any country out to the 90 foot depth and marvel at the old shoreline, go out to 200 foot and amaze at this old shoreline.The Earth is warming, has been warming, for a long time.Go to Dallas and dig shark teeth at road cuts.The facts are that everyone has this rosey picture of the Garden of Eden,[7 billion people],a life of liesure,95 cent gas,plenty of food,a life without want, but dont want to pay for it.Funny how people have the"Not in My Backyard" attitude, as they fill up their car/snowmobile/chainsaw/oil furnace/etc...using metals mined somewhere else,processed with energy from oil,transported with an oil product,eating food that oil fertilized,planted,cultivated and transported.Hypocrites.No more TV for you.here, let me strike this flint rock onto the twigs so you can light the whale blubber lamp.
I think Gwinzii senses something about the arctic that most corpo-crazy-americans are trying hard to ignore.
Have you ever flown over Prudhoe and taken a look at the place with infrared-goggles, or taken pictures of the place with infrared camera?
..this is why it's not a good idea to be engaging in activities that add even MORE HEAT to the North slope. There are some high-pressure gasfields that are so shallow that if you drop a 100' long chunk of railroad-iron from 10thousand feet up it might pop like a kids toy balloon. The trillions of cubic feet of methane-hydrate is precariously thermal-balanced like an avalanche of volcanoes.
Marching around up on the North Slope like a bunch of mil