NOT DRILLING IN ANWR IS LIKE GRANDMA'S OLD SWEATER

 

 

 

 

Joyce Morrison
November 24, 2004
NewsWithViews.com

I have to admit that I am a �saver.� I save plastic bags, coffee cans, clothes I have outgrown - and you name it. After all, I might need them some time. I wind up wasting time sorting and messing with my �savings� that I never use.

I believe it is wise to be conservative but there is a point where �saving� becomes waste.

I fondly remember my husband�s grandmother wearing sweaters patched so many times there was hardly anything left but patches. Her aprons were always clean but faded and worn with little holes that had been mended.

Her closet was filled with new sweaters and new aprons which had never been worn but when asked why she didn�t wear them; her answer was �I am saving them.� Naturally we youthfully giggled and said �for what? �

Grandma died years ago with the appearance of a pauper with her many new things unworn and outdated being of no use to anyone. Sentimentality was their only value.

As ANWR failed to make another round this year, those who oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remind me of the philosophy of grandma.

My question to them is this: �What good is this oil when we have lost the security of our nation?� Being dependent on other nations for our oil is comparable to being on welfare when the welfare recipient has a storehouse full of goods that could perish.

With the billions of dollars spent on renewable energy research, will oil some day become outdated in place of other forms of energy? It is possible, but the fact remains, we need the oil potential of ANWR today to protect our national security.

Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs, The National Center for Public Policy Research reported:

Oil drilling in the desolate ANWR would be confined to a small 2,000 acre footprint on the massive 19.6 million acre reserve. That's just 0.01% of ANWR's total acreage. Oil exploration would create new jobs and decrease America's dependence on foreign oil without harming the environment. At present, renewable energy sources are woefully inadequate to meet America's energy needs. Solar and wind power, for example, supply a paltry 0.19 percent of America's total energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy says: "Our dependence upon oil, especially foreign oil, affects our economy and our national energy security. Today, over half of the oil we use is imported... Most of the world's oil reserves are concentrated in the Middle East, and over two-thirds are controlled by OPEC members. Oil price shocks and price manipulation by OPEC have cost our economy dearly -- about $7 trillion from 1979 to 2000... and each major price shock was followed by a recession. With growing U.S. imports and increasing world dependence on OPEC oil, future price shocks are possible..."

Many family farm operations in Illinois consist of 2,000 acres and this is just small potatoes compared to the larger operations. 2000 acres would be just a dot in a 19.6 million acre landscape of ANWR and yet the RINO�s and Democrats in the House won�t allow the government to prepare for the protection of our national security.

Tom Randall of Winningreen said the Episcopal Church opposes drilling in ANWR citing bogus threat to caribou. They cited their concern for the porcupine caribou, which are a staple in the lives of the Gwich'in Indians, who are about 90 percent Episcopalian.

The bishops said, "To risk the destruction of an untouched wilderness and an ancient culture violates our theological mandate to be caretakers of creation."

There are many, many reports of Al Gore and extreme environmentalists frequenting St. John the Divine Episcopal Cathedral. There was one account of them celebrating with the �Howl-a-lu-ia� Chorus where the sound of wolves was imitated. This group would be expected to protect the porcupine caribou above human life.

While the Gwich�in Indians strongly oppose drilling they are not the only ones affected in ANWR. On June 15th, 1995, by a vote of 19-9, the Board of Directors of the Alaska Federation of Natives passed a resolution in favor of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration.

�The residents of Kaktovik, the only people living on the Coastal Plain of ANWR, support oil and gas development in their 'back yard'. Alaska's indigenous people have benefited greatly from North Slope production. In addition to providing a tax base for the local government, oil development has provided jobs, funding for water and sewer systems and schools. Native and village corporations with oil field-related subsidiaries are working on the North Slope, and the local government has a voice in permitting and environmental regulation,� states Support for ANWR.

Tom Randall makes some excellent points:

Comment 1: The Episcopal statement on being caretakers of nature is a gross misstatement of scripture that is not nearly as simple-minded as they make it out to be.

Comment 2: The refuge is not an untouched wilderness. The Gwich'in live there. Oil exploration in just 2,000 acres out of 19.5 million would be no more intrusive than Gwich'in villages. In the end, less so.

Comment 3: Today's Gwich'in culture is not the ancient one the Episcopals refer to. It is one of hardship, and deprivation. The Gwich'in could benefit from the same kind of schools, hospitals and other services oil income would provide.

Comment 4: The Episcopal Church has ignored the hard evidence that oil exploration poses no threat to caribou. The caribou, which migrate through the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, have increased in population from 3,000 to 36,000 since exploration began there in the 1970s.

House leaders dropped the ANWR provision to the budget bill on November 9 after a small group of RINO Republicans made threats to not support the budget if ANWR was included. Democrats were expected to oppose as they almost always do in sensible solutions.

The Senate passed their budget bill which contained drilling in ANWR.

We could face blackouts in various parts of the nation and our lights could flicker. The cause is plain and simple. There would just not be enough electricity to go around due to the environmentalists creating an energy shortage.

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When you open your home heating bill this winter and go into shock, it would be a good time to call your congressman and ask him how he voted on ANWR.

What good is preservation if we are weakened to the point of becoming the number one endangered species?

� 2004 Joyce Morrison - All Rights Reserved