AN"WAR"
Well, it appears as if it's finally on the verge of happening. Senate Republicans appear to have the votes to open up oil exploration in that "American Serengeti", the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. While watching C-Span last night, I got to listen to one of Alaska's represenatives give her case on why the refuge should be opened to oil exploration. Her main justification for this was the thought that because it was such a tiny area (roughly the size of Delaware), that there would be no substantial disturbance to wildlife or the enviornment in this area. Last time I checked, Delaware is pretty big overall. The next thought that occured to me was this, what happens when the oil exploration is over? Proponents of drilling seem to want me to think that they can magically pull this oil from the ground with no adverse effects. Consider this info:
"Drilling the refuge would require a large number of well pads, connected by pipelines, roads, airports, housing facilities, processing plants, and other infrastructure with effects that would radiate across the entire coastal plain. Other industrial operations, such as seismic exploration, water withdrawals, gravel mines, noise from operations, air pollution, and exploratory drilling would have effects over a much larger area. None of this infrastructure is accounted for in drilling proponents' dishonest to "limit" develop 2,000 acres of the refuge. Indeed, the effects of energy development would be felt across the entire 1.2 million coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge."
It'd be really nice if these politicians who are for this would be even slightly honest about what the true effects are going to be. She said straightfaced that with all this "magical" new technology there would be no substantial disturbance to wildlife. Consider this blurb about Prudhoe Bay, 60 miles west of the refuge:
"Toxic chemical spills are commonplace at the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. There were thousands of spills during pipeline construction, and an average of just under 400 spills annually have been reported on the North Slope since 1996 (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation spill database 1996-2002). In terms of quantity, 1.3 million gallons of toxic substances were spilled between 1996 and 2000 alone. Roughly 40 different substances, from acid to waste oil to diesel and crude, are commonly spilled during routine operations. Diesel is particularly devastating to plant life; a study of diesel spills in Alaska's arctic found that there were was little vegetation recovery 28 years after a spill."
There also is so much sprawl in that Prudhoe area of Alaska now that astronauts can see it from space.
No substantial effect to wilflife my...
"Drilling the refuge would require a large number of well pads, connected by pipelines, roads, airports, housing facilities, processing plants, and other infrastructure with effects that would radiate across the entire coastal plain. Other industrial operations, such as seismic exploration, water withdrawals, gravel mines, noise from operations, air pollution, and exploratory drilling would have effects over a much larger area. None of this infrastructure is accounted for in drilling proponents' dishonest to "limit" develop 2,000 acres of the refuge. Indeed, the effects of energy development would be felt across the entire 1.2 million coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge."
It'd be really nice if these politicians who are for this would be even slightly honest about what the true effects are going to be. She said straightfaced that with all this "magical" new technology there would be no substantial disturbance to wildlife. Consider this blurb about Prudhoe Bay, 60 miles west of the refuge:
"Toxic chemical spills are commonplace at the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. There were thousands of spills during pipeline construction, and an average of just under 400 spills annually have been reported on the North Slope since 1996 (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation spill database 1996-2002). In terms of quantity, 1.3 million gallons of toxic substances were spilled between 1996 and 2000 alone. Roughly 40 different substances, from acid to waste oil to diesel and crude, are commonly spilled during routine operations. Diesel is particularly devastating to plant life; a study of diesel spills in Alaska's arctic found that there were was little vegetation recovery 28 years after a spill."
There also is so much sprawl in that Prudhoe area of Alaska now that astronauts can see it from space.
No substantial effect to wilflife my...
posted by Big Scott | 10:29 AM
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