 By Pete Baltzer May 26, 2006
You seem to be scared to print the truth. Why? H.R. 5429 ( http://thomas.loc.gov/ ) REPEALS Section 1003 of the 1980 ANILCA. H.R. 5429 allows oil and gas exploration on approx. 1,549,000 acres -- except for possibly up to a total of 45,000 acres the Secretary "may designate" as "special areas". That's almost all of the refuge's "critically important" coastal plain zone. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 'Potential Impacts of Oil and Gas Development on Refuge
Resources' H.R. 5429 says: "SEC. 4. LEASE SALES. (d) Acreage Minimum in First Sale- ..., but in no case less than 200,000 acres. SEC. 7.(3) ensure that the maximum amount of surface acreage covered by production and support facilities, including airstrips and any areas covered by gravel berms or piers for support of pipelines, does not exceed 2,000 acres on the Coastal Plain." Your "2,000 acres"
is basically 3+ square miles of tundra buried under a thick layer
of gravel -- like in this photo, It omits the 100+ miles of gravel roads needed to connect the scattered sites. It omits the large gravel mines needed to supply huge amounts of gravel. It omits the network of pipelines (except for support areas). Speculative maps http://www.conservationgiscenter.org/maps/html/debunking_2000.html Do you like the current oil supply situation, and high prices? Refuge oil, with luck and high
prices, might replace other declining domestic sources. Status
quo. An optimistic analysis, ignores production costs. Refuge oil is high-cost, high-risk. Higher energy efficiency, biofuels, and hydrogen would cut our oil demand in HALF by 2025, perhaps ZERO imports by 2035. See graph, "The path beyond oil...", page 229, (PDF pg 253 of 332) http://oilendgame.com Unlike Refuge oil, it's proven and guaranteed. Note the drop, late 70's thru mid 80's, due to higher efficiency. OPEC appreciates Congressman Young's strategy. They wants us to drill (and deplete) our higher-cost oil first. "Oil is fungible", page 14 (PDF 38 of 332) http://oilendgame.com "The aim of the OPEC cartel is to constrain supply, and thereby force others to produce higher-cost oil first, then sell the cartel's cheap oil for that higher price -- and by depleting others' oil first, make buyers even more dependent on the cartel later." Your readers WILL eventually learn the truth about this important issue. Pete Baltzer
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