A Pristine Pestilence

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by Lhotka

Powerwagon,



Your ignorance of the area and potential impacts of drilling becomes more apparent with each response. Ignorance can be corrected if one is willing to be open minded and REALLY educate themselves about a topic. As far as my analogy goes, it's rock solid and was a response to your claim that only 2000 acres will be effected by drilling. My point being that an airport impacts an area larger than the ground it sits on. Doesn't matter the size of airport or where its located. Some 5 year olds I know can grasp that concept!!



In your last post you referred to the area as a swamp. I lived and traveled in the refuge for many years and never came across one swamp. Could it be that you don't know a thing about the area or its terrain? Ignorance maybe?



In one of your last statements you indicated that, "One has no cause to complain when someone else gets something he doesn't. Nor do we have any cause to complain if someone makes money. Nor is preventing someone else from making money a legitimate reason for anything. Envy is ugly from any angle".



That comment is just so irrational it's not worthy of comment.



Lastly, here is MY reason for not drilling in Arctic Refuge. I am American citizen and part owner of that public land. I want it left alone. The majority will rule!



P. S. Thank God for Senator Jim Jeffords!!

Why thank God for Jim Jeffords? The man hasn't the slightest committent to any beliefs that I can find. He used a potential of 1 vote to get himself in the news and ingratiate himself with some people he has previously opposed politically. I don't consider opportunism to be a virtue. His "ability" to change leadership in the Senate hasn't exactly brought about anything good... . quite the contrary. Rather, he's restored some of the bitterest and nastiest partisans to power again. I can't call that good from any angle. Anyone who does is probably just a blind partisan as well.



As to my "ignorance". Well... Hmmm... Let me see what I can find for you.



www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg072001.shtml

www.anwr.org/features/conundrum.htm

www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley072401.shtml

www.anwr.org/gallery/pages/51-Coastal_Plain_summer4.htm

www.anwr.org/gallery/pages/44-Coastal_Plain.htm



OK... anticipating your reply. I do NOT believe that only those who oppose something tell the truth. Further, I do not believe that those who promote something always lie.



Actually, from the thread here, I can honestly say that the opposition provides the least evidence and least intellectually valid reasoning.

 

[Power Wagon]

Re: Rational

Originally posted by Champane Flight

When our dependence on oil overcomes all rational thought ,it becomes a problem. I own stock in said oil company and if it goes up fine. But if someone was to introduce a way to end my dependence on oil forever and garrantee the enviroment will be there for my grandchildren and there children,I would take it in a second... ... Even if it meant saying goodbye to my truck. To squabble over a small amount of oil(even if it was a large amount would only supply a small amount of our needs)is neither here nor there. I am not jealous of the profit of the oil companys(although NO CEO or man is worth 20,000,000 a year). I just don't like to have those billions come out of my pocket!And have the oil companys dictate policy to our goverment and them FOLLOW it ...



I have seen these oil companys at work. I have seen them throw away a $150,000. 00 control valve into a scrap heap. Yet watch them scream about a couple of hours of overtime pay $20. 00! I have seen stuff buried and come to surface years later. Nobody knows nothing!



I like some of the stuff Rush comes up with to. However to agree or to have anyone agree with ALL of it is scary... .....

Hmmm... when our opposition to sensible use of our environment is opposed due to partisan or utterly illogical rants, then we have a problem. When the oil in the north slope is exhausted, when the alaska pipeline is empty and forgotten, the caribou will still roam, the bugs will still bite, and the ANWR will have been completely forgotten because nobody will be able to go there and see it, and it's purpose will no longer exist. We cannot preserve it for "our children" unless our children can get there, get to it, and see it. However, if we decide that our "pristineness" is more valuable than our children's financial future, and cease drilling, cease logging, cease generating power, cease farming, cease allowing the public to use our national forests, and the host of other things the environmental wackos are getting written into law, then we're not loving our children. We are comforting ourselves with empty words, and ignoring reality.



Instead, we're going to leave our children a world of slavery to a false religion called environmentalism, where doctrine supercedes human need, where opposition is forbidden or labled as evil, and slavish and blind obesiance to the few who generate this drivel is required, or else you're labled as an extremist or worse, and ostracised in the media, entertainment, and social circles.



As far as oil companies wasting... Well, that's life. My kids waste sometimes too. Nobody is "waste-free"... . But it seems we're interested in wasting a huge amount of oil by never drilling for it. I guess waste is only waste if it's greedy capitalists doing it. It's "conservation" when environmentalists do it.



And as far as CEO's getting 20 million... who cares? It doesn't impoverish me. It is only important to those who envy them.

 

[merryman]

Power Wagon;

You speak the truth and you do it well. Don't let them the class envy guys get to ya.



Vaughn

 

[drawson]

All of this has bigger movement behind close doors. And in side the EPA it is the biggest scam. The real solution is an alternitive fuel. There is a turn key fuel right now that can be grown not drilled for BIODIESEL, but there is those in the government (EPA) that don't want this to happen.



Here is a prime example...



AT the national VICA competition in KC this year for the Automotive contestance had a EPA guy talk to them about alternitive fuels. He talked on natural gas, propane, Alcy bends, but never brought up Biodiesel. After he was done I asked him about Biodiesel, he side stepped the question until others want to know the same thing. He stated that Biodiesel had just barely been approved as an alternitive fuel. But me knowing better brought up that it had been approved in 99. This made this guy really defensive.



These competitors are the very best from each state and the EPA was filling them full of half truths. WHY??



We can drill and not have an impact anywhere the EPA needs to step up to the plate and play hard ball with the oil companies, but not only does the oil companies make profit but the government also has green coming to them.



Our beloved diesels are use less crude oil, have cleaner emissions, and last longer. Yet they aren't big here like they are in Europe. And the EPA wants them to go away all together.



As far as this other thing about drill up in no mans land. Here my opinion=== Lhotka & CF Step up to the plate and turn in your crude oil burning truck and car for bikes. You'll stop using the crude and stop killing all those little bugs you run over and smash with the front of your vehicles. You talk the talk now walk the walk or ride as it may be.



I personally believe that this earth and it's resorces where created for man's use.

 

[Champane Flight]

Really?

Really guys,you would sacrifice the world you live in for a dollar? Finacial future?I would think that a change in the transportation needs of America and the world would create thousands of new millionares,just from the tech patents. Change is a bitter pill for some. The people at he turn of the century said the automobile would never make it to.



As far as class envy. No not envy,just wonder. I had a woman once ask me what I would do with a multi-million dollar estate in a posh housing development,golf corses,pools,tennis courts,club houses,and private lake,after a tour. When I told her "give it to the homeless" I thought she would die. She didn't believe me. But,when my wife confirmed it,she went silent. That type of opulance is obscene. It shows me how screwed up some are. They worship the almighty dollar. Not even the earth we live on is save from there logic for a buck campaign!



To believe this earth was put here JUST for us is not only selfish,but dangerous. If you just look around you,CAN't you see the changes in just OUR lifetime!Ranting,no,illogical,no,enviromentalist,no,do you read what you are writting?You would sacrifice this earth(I know of no other we can live on)just because you think we are the superior being(GODS)... ... Selfish,very selfish. Class envy is not an issue with me. I have all I need and want. I have worked hard for what I have and never have I had to back up for a paycheck.



I do conserve and ride my bike. I have practiced(walked the walk) for years. If you guys are going to buy this pro-oil,pro administration,drivel,go ahead,be my guest. However when the oil companys (even after drilling)raise there prices again(with some other lame excuse)so they can justify drilling in another pristine pestilance area(maybe this one will be closer to where you live)don't come crying on my shoulder and what ever you do,keep on driving harder and more often... .



I bought my truck because it is one of the most fuel efficent vehicles on the road today(pound for pound),and it will last forever. This lessens impact on resources.

 

[nps]

CF - no need to wait for the next newsletter. What company? I'll post the income statement from their latest 10-Q.

 

[radixr]

CF's Employer

nps,



CF isn't willing to divulge the identity of his employer because:



1. ) He might be fired.



2. ) He would be embarrassed when it is shown that the

sales/profit numbers he is alleging his company makes are

bogus.

 

[Lhotka]

Powerwagon,



Why so bitter about Jim Jeffords defection? His constituents overwhelmingly supported his move to an Independent as it was in their best interest. WHOW! A politician who actually represents his people rather than special interests and partisan politics. He certainly knew he would pay a heavy price among his peers for his choice. Interesting SPIN on the move, claiming it was done for attention. How long did that last?



I guess it could be painful to being on the losing end of it though.



Want to see Arctic Refuge? Hop on on of the daily flights to the village of Kaktovik as many people do. What to do? Hike, fish, beach comb, white water raft, sail, hunt for sheep, caribou or grizzly, trap, camp, mountain climb, watch polar bears, pan for gold, snowmachine. Explore a bit of our country that remains unimpacted by man since its creation. People actually do these things when they take what is called a VACATION. Or I guess you could tour a factory or visit a landfill to learn about how technologically advanced we are when it comes to waste disposal.



I agree with Powerwagon about the use of partisan or utterly illogical rants?



Here is an example, "When the oil in the north slope is exhausted, when the alaska pipeline is empty and forgotten, the caribou will still roam, the bugs will still bite, and the ANWR will have been completely forgotten because nobody will be able to go there and see it, and it's purpose will no longer exist. We cannot preserve it for "our children" unless our children can get there, get to it, and see it. However, if we decide that our "pristineness" is more valuable than our children's financial future, and cease drilling, cease logging, cease generating power, cease farming, cease allowing the public to use our national forests, and the host of other things the environmental wackos are getting written into law, then we're not loving our children. We are comforting ourselves with empty words, and ignoring reality. " Spoken like a true politician!

 

[John Berger]

Personally, I'm glad Jim Jeffords is gone. I wonder how he likes the "civility" in the Senate now? For those of you who believe that mankind can destroy the earth I would recommend that the human race shouldn't be so arrogant about itself. We can't destroy the earth. There are basically two theories to the earth and how it got here. 1) Evolution: While I think it is a totally false concept that complicated life forms evolve by pure chance, let's say that we did. The earth, according to the same theory has been around for approximately 4 billion years. It has had to withstand meteor impacts and the nuclear winter that would most likely result from such a catastrophe. It has withstood ice ages, a shift in it's axis and who knows how many other devasting events over that long a period of time. The amount of atmospheric pollutants that the eruption of Mt. St. Helens spewed into the atmosphere in the relatively few moments of it's event cycle would take mankind over 4000 years at the present rate we are polluting. Nature is the single largest polluter(sp) known to man. Read my lips Mankind can not destroy the earth.



2) Creation. This is what many believe. If creation is true, it takes a being much more powerful than we can imagine to do what is described in the first 2 chapters of Genesis. What makes you think He is going to sit around and let us destroy what He made.



Human arrogance and false assumptions have led mankind down the hell beaten path to evil throughout our short history. We are good at destroying each other, but we can not destroy that which sustains us.





P. S. I never said I believed everything Rush Limbaugh says. You got it backwards. I said I liked him because he was talking about things from the perspective that I believed in. I found Rush, he didn't make me into the so-called mind numb robot.

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by Lhotka

Powerwagon,



Why so bitter about Jim Jeffords defection? His constituents overwhelmingly supported his move to an Independent as it was in their best interest. WHOW! A politician who actually represents his people rather than special interests and partisan politics. He certainly knew he would pay a heavy price among his peers for his choice. Interesting SPIN on the move, claiming it was done for attention. How long did that last?

Jim Jeffords got attention and lots of adoring press, who will flock to and love anyone who leaves the Republican party to become a Democrat - or at least puts Democrats in control. The press is nothing more than the largest and best funded arm of the DNC.



Jefford's constituents didn't love his switch. Jeffords is unlikely to serve any more terms, either. I think it was incredibly foolish of him to jump one party to give control to the other party, and then pretend not to be part of the other party. When election time comes, the Democrats will run against him, and so will Republicans. Jeffords killed himself politically, just because he was so greedy for his "day in the sun" and the love of an addoring DC press corp.



But I'm not bitter... He didn't vote conservative anyway. His only action, as I said, was to put the meanest, nastiest, bitterest, most hateful, and intensely partisan powermongers in leadership again. And, it's apparent every day. If only the press wasn't a DNC operation, we'd all know the contant lies and untruth the Senate leadership constantly spouts. But, hey, it's what some people here want.

 

[RustyJC]

I hesitate to interject myself into this debate, but as one who was literally born into the oil field (my dad worked for Humble - now Exxon), who was sent to college on an Exxon (Teagle) scholarship and who has worked for a manufacturer of oil and gas equipment for some 28 years, I'd like to point out one fact.



The world is not running out of oil. Instead, the world is running out of cheap oil. The petroleum reserves in the tar sands of Canada and the Oronoco belt of Venezuela are significantly larger than the reserves controlled by OPEC. As petroleum prices approach $35/barrel, many types of production become economically attractive, including tertiary recovery from existing oil fields.



Am I in favor of higher oil prices? No, but if they come, so will petroleum supplies. It's the basic law of supply and demand at work.



Rusty

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by Lhotka

Powerwagon,





Here is an example, "When the oil in the north slope is exhausted, when the alaska pipeline is empty and forgotten, the caribou will still roam, the bugs will still bite, and the ANWR will have been completely forgotten because nobody will be able to go there and see it, and it's purpose will no longer exist. We cannot preserve it for "our children" unless our children can get there, get to it, and see it. However, if we decide that our "pristineness" is more valuable than our children's financial future, and cease drilling, cease logging, cease generating power, cease farming, cease allowing the public to use our national forests, and the host of other things the environmental wackos are getting written into law, then we're not loving our children. We are comforting ourselves with empty words, and ignoring reality. " Spoken like a true politician!

I will see it. I plan on spending several months in Alaska next year. And, because of that, I've spent a lot of time reading up on a lot of what's there.



And I'm not a politician, I'm a father of 5. I DO want my children to have a good financial future. I want them to have access to the world they live in, including Alaska and the great outdoors. I do want them to live free of want, free of slavery to an all controlling authoritarian "environmental" government. I do not want to see them live in a controlled state, where travel, liberty, and free speech are proscribed "for thier own good".



And, if the environmental movement succeeds, the ANWR will be absolutely pointless. What is the point in the reserve, if nobody can visit it? What is the point of music, if nobody hears it? What is the point of a beautiful painting, if nobody sees it? Your arguments pretend that ANWR has some sort of sacredness or "forever" value. It doesn't. It's value exists only so long as we can visit it and appreciate the parts that are meaningful.



Glacier Park (where I was this week) would be meaningless if we could not get into it. Yellowstone (a few years back) would have no relevance or value if we could not get into it, observe it, and see it's life and changes. ANWR will be MORE meaningful if we do develop around it more, because more will then be able to see and appreciate it. And, in spite of your rantings... Drilling for oil HAS NO MEANINGFUL IMPACT.



That's right. We're not going to kill the wildlife, we're not going to dam up the rivers, we're not going to build a new Los Angeles in the middle of it, or crowd it with 400,000 motorhomes and 800,000 pre-fab homes. We're not going to pave it over, or shoot all the animals, or cut down the trees (well, the parts where there's trees. There's no trees where they want to drill). In reality, the only thing "destroyed" is your "pristine" quality. Put "pristine" in one had and let an arctic tern poop in the other and see which fills up.



"pristine" is an emotional value you place on it. It has no real value, no real relevance. And further, all the things you mention that you do in the reserve... . You generally don't do where you want to drill. Do you REALLY want to spend a lot of time here???



#ad

 

[Champane Flight]

Eat Crow.

I am mistaken,I was looking at a two year profit margin. Last quarters profits were $618,000,000. 00 .



I would want my great grand children to be happy,before a financial future... ...

 

[Sled Puller]

Got here late........

Just wanted to let anyone know who is looking for a place to drill oil or natural gas, we have 120 acres with two old wells capped about 70 years ago. Drill baby drill!!!



There are millions of acres set aside for this or that, and the Clinton Gestapo had tried their hardest to ban humans from them completely.







Also, anyone who thinks Jeffords is a decent guy SHOULD WAKE THE &^$#%$#&^$# UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Gene

 

[Power Wagon]

Re: Eat Crow.

Originally posted by Champane Flight

I am mistaken,I was looking at a two year profit margin. Last quarters profits were $618,000,000. 00 .



I would want my great grand children to be happy,before a financial future... ...

OF course. But preventing drilling in some god-forsaken arctic plain isn't going to make my grandchildren happy. In fact, it has no bearing on it whatsoever... . except that it might reduce thier country's dependence on some politically explosive hot spot.



I can't see that my children are suffering horribly because my father and his father cut down some trees and homesteaded a farm... But, hey, I suppose thier future happinesss could hinge on 2000 acres of land being "human-free", but the chances are greater the sun will explode.

 

[Champane Flight]

Independance.

I have had this strange idea,that I could be independant all my life and have for the most part. I have strived to be able to take care of myself without depending on anyone else. I believe that this is the what bothers me about the this move to put the oil companys needs above everything else. The idea that we NEED this new oil reserve so BAD,that we would sacrifice an area set aside for a wildlife preserve. Whether the lines of this preserve were put there by a politician or God himself are not the question. The lines ARE there... . Freedom from the all powerful Corporations. This means more to me than some false idea of enviromental Nazis taking over the world. Thats because I can SEE the big Corporations,they have their hand in my pocket,I have yet to see these elusive enviro-nazis.....



I would think we have been bent over the barrel long enough for someone to open their eyes and see that this drilling is NOT going to solve our oil needs. It is NOT going to even bring the price down. Rusty hit the nail on the head,with the lack of cheap oil!That and the tax laws that tax storage of refined fuels. This turns our overburdened refineries into supply,demand,and higher prices.



We will see more and more bio fuels and finally the end of the old oil burners. Not in our lifetime,but sooner than you think. Our depedance on oil is the problem,NOT our dependance on foreign oil. If we all curtailed our fuel prices for just ONE day,NOBODY bought gas,fuel,or any petroleum product. We could drop the prices(and scare the hell out of the oil companys).



I do apoligize for the false info on profits of my company. However that is still a he!! of a lot of money in my book. I really don't care what they make. I would love to see the stock go sky high for the oil company I work for. At least for the next four years. But,I for one think that drilling on a game preserve is not going to acomplish this.

 

[Lhotka]

Powerwagon,



It's sickening to hear you make a mockery of a place people call home. Why not trash the hot snake infested deserts of Texas? The swamps of Florida? The clear cuts of Oregon? The crop fields of the Midwest? You wouldn't dare walk into a community and tell the peoplle who live there that their backyard is a mosquito infested swamp not worthy of anything but oil developement!!



Go ahead and tell the people of these small Alaskan communities what YOU stated previously, "in spite of your rantings... Drilling for oil HAS NO MEANINGFUL IMPACT".



Your ignorance continues to grow.

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by Lhotka

Powerwagon,



It's sickening to hear you make a mockery of a place people call home. Why not trash the hot snake infested deserts of Texas? The swamps of Florida? The clear cuts of Oregon? The crop fields of the Midwest? You wouldn't dare walk into a community and tell the peoplle who live there that their backyard is a mosquito infested swamp not worthy of anything but oil developement!!



Go ahead and tell the people of these small Alaskan communities what YOU stated previously, "in spite of your rantings... Drilling for oil HAS NO MEANINGFUL IMPACT".



Your ignorance continues to grow.

YOu didn't read any links I put up, did you...



Try reading:



www.anwr.org/people/nageak.html

www.anwr.org/people/natsuprt.html



And who's making a mockery? I asked a very serious question, an intellectually honest one, and you never even responded, except to make dishonest attacks on me.



Now, explain to me... . Please. What, PRECISELY is going to happen to ANWR if we drill? Nothing. The parts of ANWR that have the wildlife everyone wants to "save" are elsewhere.



Now, Read this: This is Alaskans polled on drilling:



www.anwr.org/poll.htm



Calling me ignorant in a disagreement isn't going to make your case. In my experience it's generally a mistake to call anyone ignorant. I have my facts right. What we disagree on, is how "holy" a political act makes a plot of arctic plain. It isn't "holy" or anything else. It isn't even special. In fact, it's nothing of interest to any of us. If it is, make the case already.

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by Lhotka

Powerwagon,



You wouldn't dare walk into a community and tell the peoplle who live there that their backyard is a mosquito infested swamp not worthy of anything but oil developement!!



Go ahead and tell the people of these small Alaskan communities what YOU stated previously, "in spite of your rantings... Drilling for oil HAS NO MEANINGFUL IMPACT".

Actually, I do dare. And, I suspect, a LOT of them would agree with me. A god-forsaken swamp is a god-forsaken swamp. I've lived in a god-forsaken desert, and in a remote corner of Montana at a place referred to as a god-forsaken wilderness. Say this to the native population and they'll likely agree and then say "But it's my home, and I'm tough enough!". I will gladly acknowledge thier strength and guts and certainly never think any the less of them for it.



You see, I'm not afraid to be honest. I don't make false pretenses of wonder, when none is deserved. And I will say, right up front. The arctic plain both east and west of Prudhoe bay is nothing more than a bug infested pestilence in the short summer, an unmercifully frigid and dangerous winter desert most of the rest of the year.



And, when I'm up there, I'll drive the "haul road" and bring back some photographs and maybe some video... . to show everyone just how silly it is to make this a "reserve".



On the other hand, the southern end of ANWR has the mountains, streams, rivers, lakes, abundant wildlife and panoramic vistas of natural beauty. It also has no oil, and probably nothing else of need. It certainly is not threatened by me or anyone else.



Now, tell me please... Why a line drawn by some ignorant government employee on a map not far from Prudhoe bay makes land sacred? It does not. But for the caprice of some agencies methodology, the part of ANWR wanted for drilling would never have been there anyway - and it does not need to or deserve to be.



So I challenge you... Have the guts to make a reasoned and sensible judgement on your own, ignoring the political hoopla, and tell me, describe to me, the reason for making the small area near Deadhorse part of ANWR.



I bet you can't.

 

[Lhotka]

Originally posted by Power Wagon





Actually, I do dare. And, I suspect, a LOT of them would agree with me. A god-forsaken swamp is a god-forsaken swamp. I've lived in a god-forsaken desert, and in a remote corner of Montana at a place referred to as a god-forsaken wilderness. Say this to the native population and they'll likely agree and then say "But it's my home, and I'm tough enough!". I will gladly acknowledge thier strength and guts and certainly never think any the less of them for it.



You see, I'm not afraid to be honest. I don't make false pretenses of wonder, when none is deserved. And I will say, right up front. The arctic plain both east and west of Prudhoe bay is nothing more than a bug infested pestilence in the short summer, an unmercifully frigid and dangerous winter desert most of the rest of the year.



And, when I'm up there, I'll drive the "haul road" and bring back some photographs and maybe some video... . to show everyone just how silly it is to make this a "reserve".



On the other hand, the southern end of ANWR has the mountains, streams, rivers, lakes, abundant wildlife and panoramic vistas of natural beauty. It also has no oil, and probably nothing else of need. It certainly is not threatened by me or anyone else.



Now, tell me please... Why a line drawn by some ignorant government employee on a map not far from Prudhoe bay makes land sacred? It does not. But for the caprice of some agencies methodology, the part of ANWR wanted for drilling would never have been there anyway - and it does not need to or deserve to be.



So I challenge you... Have the guts to make a reasoned and sensible judgement on your own, ignoring the political hoopla, and tell me, describe to me, the reason for making the small area near Deadhorse part of ANWR.



I bet you can't.

You still don't have it right. I have been answering your questions. You are not listening. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in Kaktovik that would consider Arctic refuge as you describe it. Not a LOT as you claim. Cold frigid dangerous winters? To you who live in a southern climate and can't adapt. Oh by the way, if you are doing your home work like you claim, you'd learn that the haul road won't take you to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain. It's a hundred miles east of Prudhoe Bay. You must have a damn big telephoto lens on your video camera to film the arctic refuge coastal plain from the haul road. You claim the southern part has mountains, streams, rivers, lakes, abundant wildlife and panoramic vistas of natural beauty. True, but the coastal plain has many more streams, rivers, and lakes. Look at a decent topo map and you'd realize that. You can't get that information from looking at a 1:500,000 topo in an atlas. Abundant wildlife on the southern end? You're joking. 180,000 caribou travel to the coastal plain to calve. A spectacle reminiscent of the great buffalo herds. Muskox in numbers, polar bears in numbers, incredible nesting habitat for hundreds of species of birds. You seem to be hung up on the mosquito thing. The cool breezes blowing off the arctic ice pack provide the caribou relief from the mosquitoes. You will experience this first hand when you visit. Vistas of natural beauty you say? Nothing is more incredible then standing on Mt. Chamberlain's glacier and looking out across the vast coastal plain to see the polar ice pack far beyond. Beyond that, the north pole. That is far more awe inspiring than any mountain range Alaska has to offer.



You claimed an ignorant government employee created the 1002 area by drawing a line a map? Wrong. Do your home work. The area was created mainly with the input of industry who knew the area's geology suggested the presence of oil. Recoverable oil as you claim? No one knows yet.



You challenge me to have the guts to make a reasoned and sensible judgment on my own, ignoring the political hoopla? I did years ago when I was much younger and politics meant nothing to me. My decision opposing development is based on many reasons that you are incapable of understanding. Am I against all oil drilling? Hell no. I supported Bill Clinton's opening of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. (a little known fact is that Clinton opened far more area to oil exploration than did George Bush Sr. ) That is what NPRA was set aside for. It opened up a huge area to the east of Prudhoe Bay for oil development. I don't believe it is unreasonable to preserve a small part of America's arctic coastal plain. Much more is open to drilling.



Lastly, you stated the 1002 area is a "small area near Deadhorse". Previously you claimed this is a huge area the size of some States that 2000 acres of development won't impact. Well what is it? A small area, or a huge area the size of some States?