January 02, 2005
Sunday

This is in response to Mr. Hoff's letter regarding not opening ANWR drilling on the north slope. Mr. Hoff, you being of native decent especially, I would think you would rather see Alaska, the great state she is, being more self reliant on its own fuels, and its own natural gas, rather than depending on foreign oils. I lived in Ketchikan for 30+ years, and now, living here in Kenai I see it first hand. More people here work on the North Slope, Valdez oil pipeline, and the local oil companies than anywhere. B/P, Tesoro, Petro-Marine, Shell, Unocal, Conoco-Phillips, they are all spread out up here, and most have spots up on the slope where men and women go up on stints of 2-6 weeks on and 3 weeks off. They work hard up there, and are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel for all their hard work with the possibility of the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There has been so many studies done, by environmentalists, conservationists, (usually funded by the oil companies because they are trying to be the good neighbor here), regarding the impact on animals, ground, etc. and have found no reason to not drill.

So, with the new Governor in office, we may finally have the chance to see Alaska stand up tall again with the find of new oil and gas, and move forward! Our last Governor sure as heck didn't help us when we were in need when our precious timber industry was on the line now did he? He was vacationing in Hawaii and too busy to rally against Washington D.C. to fight for us. We need ANWR to move ahead and pull this state up out of the economic hole it's in. There are places in Southeast that once were bustling mini-metropolises, and now are just tourist towns. Oil equals money. For the entire state.

I personally don't want to see the whole state turn into a tourist attraction. Tourist dollars are important I won't argue that. However, for most parts of Southeast, like Ketchikan, that has become a main industry, not timber or oil. Been to Anchorage lately? It's not just in the little cities. The sad part is, most of these little "Alaskan Gift Shops" are junk. A good portion of them are crap made in another country. You have to look pretty hard for the real stuff that actually says "Made in Alaska". Just had to say my peace.

Kara Steele
E-mail: msjinx36@yahoo.com
Kenai, AK - USA

Related Viewpoint:

No Drilling In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Don Hoff Jr. - Hixson, TN - USA

 

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