Posted on 04/06/2002 2:05:03 AM PST by JohnHuang2
The U.S. Senate is poised to decide whether or not to drill for oil under the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge. The House of Representatives has already said yes, polls indicate the people say yes and a majority of U.S. Senators have indicated they, too, would approve production – if they get a chance to vote on the question.
There are enough votes to pass the ANWR measure; there are not the 60 votes required to kill a filibuster, which Tom Daschle and the Senate Democrats have promised.
Daschle Democrats and environmental extremists contend that drilling will "destroy" the pristine wilderness. What this really means, according to a study just released by the U.S. Geological Survey, is that the range for a herd of 125,000 Porcupine River caribou would be reduced from 19 million acres to 18,998,000 acres. Should the herd get within earshot, they may also have to endure the sound of trucks and equipment operating on the 2,000-acre footprint of the oil operation.
Caribou that live 100 miles to the west on the existing Alaska oil fields have thrived during the years of oil production. There is every reason to believe that the ANWR caribou would benefit from man's presence, as have their western cousins.
For several years now, it has been known, but not publicly admitted by Democrats and environmental extremists, that oil exploration is safe on even environmentally sensitive lands. Bill Clinton's energy department said as much in a 1999 report.
The argument for drilling ANWR is based on the need to increase our self-reliance, and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. More than half of our oil is now imported, most from countries sympathetic to the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 tragedy.
At any moment, these oil-rich nations could shut off the valve, as they did in the 1970s. Gas prices skyrocketed. Long lines of cars awaited the chance to buy gas at any price, on odd or even numbered days that corresponded with their license numbers.
Of course, a repeat of this situation is far more acceptable to Daschle Democrats and environmental extremists than possibly inconveniencing the caribou in ANWR.
If the Daschle Democrats block ANWR oil, they are not only saying "we value caribou more than people," they are also saying:
Should the Senate fail to authorize ANWR production, it will indeed be a sad day for the Democratic leadership. Every Democratic senator who faces election this year will become a target. Should the oil situation worsen as the political situation worsens in the Middle East, a "no" vote on ANWR will be a badge of dishonor, a big red bulls-eye in the cross-hairs of every voter.
Our economic engine is fueled by oil, like it or not. It is stupendously stupid to allow that engine to be dependent upon the people who produce dozens of terrorist organizations hell-bent on destroying the United States.
Our national security begins at home. ANWR oil is American oil. We need it. We need all the energy we can muster from non-Arab sources, whether under ANWR, offshore or under the gazillions of acres now set aside as wilderness. We simply must expand our domestic energy production – from every source possible.
It is not a question of hurting the environment; the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society produce oil from their lands. They know oil production can be safe. It is a question of national security. We are at war with terrorism. We cannot afford to lose.
America's war machine cannot be defeated by any nation on earth – unless, of course, it runs out of gas. The Daschle Democrats in the Senate seem content to let our military continue to fill its tanks at Saddam's gas station.
Of course, the republicans in the senate will capitulate as always before the battle even begins...
Lets see, the saudi's gave $20 million to the klintoon library. Surely dashole can fillibuster as long as strom thurmond.
Tom, this is bubba. now you know the saudis would be real mad if we started drillin' fer oil. messes up the whole environment and the oil markets, too. we need stabilty, tom, tom, TOM ?
There is a bill in Congress (HR 2829), sponsored by Oregon Congressman Walden, the Sound Science for Endangered Species Act Planning Act of 2001. This is legislation to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Secretary of the Interior to give greater weight to scientific or commercial data that is empirical or has been field-tested or peer-reviewed, and for other purposes.
I urge everyone to contact your respresentatives in Congress to ask them to support this legislation. Ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill.
The ESA has been the buzzsaw used to prune the Tree of Liberty’s protective shade. Bad science has been used throughout the history of the ESA to harm average citizens of the USA. Farmers in Oregon have lost their livelihoods because of bad science and the ESA. The Northern Spotted Owl has been responsible for the early demise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of thousands of hard-working countrymen. Recently, it was discovered that the Northern Spotted Owl has been breeding with the California Spotted Owl. Will that science be used to delist the bird and return Americans to work? A blue-eyed mallard was listed as “The Mexican Duck” until the bad science was revealed. Once a species is listed, the likelihood that it will be removed is remote. Federal and state scientists committed fraud in an attempt to list the lynx—previous bad science was responsible for its being listed as threatened.
Two hundred years ago, Sam Adams, an original American, said: "If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." American lives have been harmed by this destructive act and too often (as with the Klamath farmers) it has been a case of too little, too late, and their voices raised in collective protest and joined by other concerned citizens, went ignored for too long. I could easily pose a canny analogy to our nation’s early days, in which legitimate grievances were ignored and a crisis followed. Now is the time for us to stand among the majority and be heard.
The democrats WANT the economy to be flat, soft, poor.
Election time is on its way and they want an issue. They will do ANYTHING to cause a poor economy. To hell with the nation.
I want that vote, on the record.
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