March 13, 2005

Caribou Vote With Their Feet for ANWR Oil

They don’t call crude oil “black gold” in jest. A barrel of the stuff, fresh out of Saudi Arabia ground, costs $53 a barrel – as this is written.

From this, distillers extract four gallons of gasoline selling for a national average of about $2 a gallon including taxes.

Bulk of crude oil is broken down into other valuable uses – such as aviation fuel and power plant furnace oil.

Without petroleum, the world economy would collapse. Coal and nuclear fission could substitute, but that’s another story.

For now, we have to worry about war in the Middle East and politically correct airheads. When gasoline hits $5 a gallon, environuts will be the first to disown caribou, grisly bears and tundra birds.

In case you haven’t noticed, the wild life mentioned is ransom for politics.

President Bush is pushing hard to open a tiny part of the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) to oil drilling. Most congressional Democrats are furious.

Radlibs know nothing about oil production or global economics, but they are exquisitely tuned to loud voices. Reality be damned.

House Republicans last week ducked the president’s proposed energy bill that includes Alaska drilling when Democrats threatened a 60-vote filibuster.

No matter. Senate Republicans sashayed around the energy bill. They included the ANWR drilling initiative in a budget resolution. That is immune to filibuster and requires a majority of only one vote.

There will be prolonged cries of anguish among liberals, but common sense -- and two or three extra Republican votes -- will prevail. It is about time.

Bush out-foxed the Dems by audaciously including $2.4 billion of revenue expected from ANWR oil leases as a budget item -- thereby insulating the ANWR initiative from filibuster.

When a cowboy says “Smile,” you better do it or cock your gun.

“Congress needs to look at the science and look at the facts and send me a bill that includes exploration in ANWR for the sake of our country,” said Bush when he made his proposal.

He said the U.S. should pursue every way to conserve energy, find more oil and protect the environment. “These are not incompatible.”

The president has taken his energy proposals to the hustings. In Columbus, Ohio, he said drilling in the 19.6 million-acre Arctic refuge would be carried out on a parcel of land “The size of your airport -- and without any impact on land or wildlife.”

Just so.

ANWR is the size of ten states. The area of drilling would be 2,000 acres – 1/100th of l percent of the whole reserve. Proportionally this would be like eight sheets of typewriter paper, edge to edge, in the back right corner of the end zone on a NFL football field.

More important than sizes is that wildlife, if any, is unaffected by oil drilling and extraction -- or is actually enhanced.

Before writing my editor, or singeing my email site, get on the web and download ANWR.org. This displays many beautiful photos of the Arctic Power Co. oil well at Prudhoe Bay just west of ANWR.

A huge herd of caribou lounge in the shadow of a giant oil rig, or clog a causeway built to serve it. Since Prudhoe Bay production began, the Central Arctic Caribou Herd is said to have grown from 3,000 to 32,000.

Grisly bears delight in playing atop the elevated Tans-Alaska Pipe Line. Arctic quail nest contentedly near by.

Surely you remember the four years of environmental hullabaloo before construction of a well-head and 36- inch pipeline got under way in 1973 – just as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries embargoed us for supporting Israel.

Eight billion barrels of oil was projected for extraction from Prudhoe Bay. To date, 14 billion barrels have been pumped out. It is estimated an equal amount remains to be extracted.

Today, oil and politics still tango.

ANWR critics assert the oil field there would produce only three billion barrels of black gold -- hardly enough for six months.

The U.S. Geological Survey says ANWR could produce 16 billion barrels of oil. Arctic Power Co. points out that this is enough to replace 30 years of Saudi Arabian imports.

Bring on those caribou and bears.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at linwms@lindseywilliams.org