The Buffalo News : Opinion
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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WHEN WILL WE REALIZE WE CAN=92T DRILL OUR WAY TO CHEAP GAS?
ARCTIC EYEWITNESS
By=20
Marty Essen -=20
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Updated:=20
09/14/08 6:48 AM
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The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge =97 pro-oil groups prefer its=20 foreign-sounding acronym, ANWR =97 is ground zero in the war on the = environment.=20 If the oil companies win the fight to drill there, no place will be = off-limits=20 for them again.
The pitch to drill in the Arctic Refuge isn=92t new. In fact, if it = wasn=92t for=20 public outcry after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, oil wells would likely = already=20 dot its landscape. What=92s changed is that artificially high gas prices = have made=20 it easier for oil companies and the Bush administration to manipulate = Americans=20 into supporting an energy policy that will lead to even greater oil = industry=20 profits.
The best way to get beyond politics is to see things with your own = eyes. On=20 June 12, a bush plane carrying my wife, Deb, and I landed near the Jago = River.=20 We were 220 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and the landscape was = treeless.=20 This was the heart of the famed =931002 Area,=94 the 100-mile stretch of = Arctic=20 Refuge coastal plain coveted by oil executives and the politicians they=20 influence.
Marty Essen is a college speaker and the author of the=20
award-winning book =93Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring =
the=20
Seven Continents.=94 His Web site is
The Arctic coastal plain isn=92t the wasteland that oil drilling = advocates=20 would like you to believe it is. In fact, it=92s amazingly beautiful. = The stunning=20 Brooks Mountain Range filled the southern horizon, and pale-blue braided = rivers=20 flowed north, framing the occasional butte. Covering the ground were = mosses,=20 grasses, herbs and sedges, punctuated by tiny flowers. Never before had = I=20 visited a place where I could see and hear things so far in the = distance.
The Gwich=92in Athabascan Indians call the coastal plain the = =93sacred place=20 where life begins=94 for a good reason. Not only is it the birthing = ground for=20 nearly 40,000 caribou calves each year, but it=92s also where more than = 50 species=20 of migrating birds hatch their chicks. Many of those birds will migrate = to a=20 park, forest or body of water near you.
We spent a week canoeing down the Jago River to the Arctic Ocean. = Along the=20 way, we encountered caribou, songbirds, raptors, waterfowl, Arctic = ground=20 squirrels, lemmings, grizzly bear and both red and Arctic fox. We = finished with=20 an invigorating, 10-mile-long, iceberg-dotted, paddle to Barter Island. =
Then, for the second part of our trip, we flew south to Fairbanks and = headed=20 north again. This time our destination was the Prudhoe Bay oil field, = 120 miles=20 west of the Jago River. To get there, we drove the Dalton Highway. The = 414-mile=20 long, mostly
gravel, road parallels the Alaska Pipeline and serves as the supply = route for=20 the Prudhoe Bay oil field.
Midway to Prudhoe Bay is the tiny community of Wiseman. Without = access to the=20 electric grid, Wiseman residents generate their own power with solar = panels,=20 windmills and even a waterwheel. How ironic that such a good example of=20 renewable energy use was on our way to a complex dedicated to feeding = America=92s=20 massive fossil fuel addiction.
A sickening brown haze told us we were nearing Prudhoe Bay. Once the = complex=20 was in sight, we gaped at the sprawling expanse of buildings and = machinery.
The Prudhoe Bay oil field takes up between 4,240 and 640,000 acres, = depending=20 on who=92s measuring it. Oil drilling advocates commonly measure only = the actual=20 occupied ground, and environmental groups measure around the entire = complex.=20
What=92s the difference between the measuring methods? Imagine you = come home=20 from vacation and find cobwebs in every room, stretching from chair to = chair and=20 from wall to wall. You consult two friends =97 an oil company lobbyist = and an=20 environmentalist. The lobbyist says, =93The webs are thin. Let them be. = You=92ll=20 still have most of the house to yourself.=94 The environmentalist says, = =93My dear=20 friend, you have a spider problem!=94
The only way we could see the oil field complex up close was on an = official=20 Prudhoe Bay tour, which began with a short video. I listened as the = narrator=20 repeatedly stressed the oil companies=92 commitment to the environment. = Did they=20 think we had arrived at Prudhoe Bay blindfolded? I guess if you repeat = something=20 enough, people will believe it. After the video, we boarded a bus and = headed=20 into the oil field. From horizon to horizon, the complex continued as = far as we=20 could see. The tour =93highlight=94 was a stop at the Arctic Ocean, = where our guide=20 invited everyone to take a swim. Deb and I looked at the black guck = alongshore =97=20 obvious remnants of a spill =97 and decided to stay dry.
As we headed back to Fairbanks, George W. Bush was making another = pitch to=20 drill in the sacred place where life begins. As much as the oilman = turned=20 president disappointed me, the American people have disappointed me = more. Recent=20 polls show that rising gas prices have made Americans much more = receptive to=20 drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. Are we really that = gullible?
Because oil prices are set on the global market, we can=92t drill our = way to=20 cheap gas. We can, however, with only a minor conservation effort, save = more oil=20 than we=92d ever pump out of the Arctic Refuge. And if we put a full = effort into=20 weaning ourselves off oil, we won=92t be passing the problem on to = future=20 generations. Truly, the most patriotic thing an American can do is = support=20 freedom =97 from fossil fuels.
We were almost to Fairbanks when the driver of a wide-load pilot car = directed=20 us onto the shoulder. I rolled down my window and exchanged smiles with = him.=20
=93We=92re bringing a boat up to Prudhoe Bay to go water-skiing!=94 = he chortled.=20
=93It must be a big boat,=94 I said. =93Actually,=94 he said with a = wink, =93we=92re=20 bringing the boat up to do the oil exploration we aren=92t supposed to = be doing.=20 Kinda like the pipe we brought up years ago for the drilling we = weren=92t supposed=20 to be doing.=94
A semi truck rounded the curve in front of us, pulling an enormous = boat that=20 spanned from shoulder to shoulder. As it passed, I saw two more trucks = pushing.=20
The sight of three diesel trucks pushing and pulling one piece of oil = exploration equipment was a fitting microcosm of our current energy = policy. It=20 was so backward, so wasteful, so shortsighted. In the past, America has = led the=20 world in progressive ideas and innovative solutions. It=92s time for our = country=20 to take the lead again.
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