I was reading Hugh Hewitt just now discussing ANWR and how the debate is being framed. I agree with him that we need to tap ANWR, but there's a better reason than our current dependance on foreign oil....a ecological decision.
Look, as with any finite resource, oil will someday be gone...just a fact. But right now we are not nearly where we need to be regarding alternate fuel sources. The Hy-Brid cars are a good start, but they need to be "souped up" to, at the very least, compete with today's fastest cars....maybe some folks at Daimler-Chrysler or Volvo can get working on that. Wind's alright, except for those thousands of birds that are killed every year by wind farms...not exactly environmental. The point is, we're pretty far away from an alternate fuel source that is equal or better than oil. We need to drill in ANWR not just to relieve the pressure foreign oil puts on us, but also to give us some time to get our alternative energy stuff going.
Now I know this makes me sound a little tree huggy. That's fine...I was born in Boulder...but I'm interested more in maintaining my lifestyle. I like my car, I need my car, but if it ran on grass and still got me from Denver to Vail at 75 mph I'd buy it. I like my condo, and my television, and my laptop. I recycle when I can, and my "carbon footprint" isn't that big. But if conservation were made easier and more cost effective, I would be far more...well..conservative. I know several (political) conservatives who would do the same thing. But what are the big auto companies and the government worried about? They're worried about unions sapping their strength, over-regulation, sluggish infrastructure. Let's face it, they're not the most cutting edge of companies. The solution? ANWR. And NO I do not want the government doing anything other than saying yes to drilling.
As for people who argue we shouldn't drill, I know far too many of them who would be more affected by a sudden end to oil, yet they want to leave something they will never see, untouched. I agree that we should be as enviromentally sound as possible. Heck, I want enviros on board the whole way insuring the drilling is clean...
The problem is, all they would do is try to gum up the works to stop it. They don't want to help. They want to stick it to the man. The ironic part is that most of these people are on college campuses and could be doing great work on creating that next power source, making the first electric car to go 250 mph, or finding the perfect reusable material, but they don't. They complain and shed tears for the caribou...the ones that would continue to live peacefully in ANWR while we drilled...what they don't give are other ideas.
I've met many people in my life and not one wants humans to go extinct, but most have also worked very hard to get to where they're at now, and they don't want to just give it all away.
So let's actually get together on this. We have the companies that can drill in an enviromental way, and we have people that can solve our problems with our energy needs. We've done it before, just look at the new lightbulbs, and the hybrid cars. All we need is time.
Time is what drilling in ANWR gives....and we still get the bonus of not being bound to foreign oil anymore. We all win! Yea!
