"The price of gasoline is going up and
since G. Bush was once in the oil business,
it must be his fault?
Ignore the fact that for five years
he has been trying to get our moribund US Senate
to allow us to tap our own huge oil
deposits in the Arctic. However, a small majority
(including Murray and Cantwell) think
the welfare of 2000 acres of Arctic desert is more
important than the welfare of the nation
and the state (Alaska crude is refined here
in Washington) It is estimated
that those 2000 acres could produce enough oil
to replace the oil we buy from the
Saudis, who use part of what we pay them to
finance terrorists to kill us and are
prime movers in OPEC.
We can and should do more to develop
alternative energy. But, that takes time and
oil is a lot more than energy.
Do you ever use plastic? It's made out of oil. One
could hardly come up with a manufacturing
process that doesn't use oil.
This country also has vast deposits
of coal. Most oil products (including gasoline)
can be made from coal. Only,
the groups who call themselves "environmentalists"
oppose the mining of coal. Then,
there is electricity generated from a totally clean,
renewable source: waterpower.
But, those same folks will not allow more dams
to be built and are working to tear
down ones already in use.
Until we end the "dictatorship of the
environmentalists", our downhill slide will
continue."
S/Marv Chastain
This letter to the editor was sent
September 6th to the PDN (the date of 9/12 is 30 days
from the last letter published and
was intended to be publishing date) On Friday, Sept.
9th, Gottlieb called and wanted
me to "prove" the statement about estimated production.
He had his own "estimated production"
- a six month's supply. The "six month supply"
figure is one which has been touted
by enviros to prove it wasn't worthwhile - - but, that
touted figure is six months of total
US oil usage. Since we buy only about 14% of our oil
from Soudi, that would represent
about 3-1/2 years of Saudi purchases - very big barrel
of oil. However, until drilling,
or at least on-site surveys by oil companies take place,
nobody has more than a vague idea
of how much is there.
The site sits right between two major
oil fields - North Slope and Canada's major field.
It's in the middle of an Arctic
desert about 2/3rds the size of the State of Washington
known as the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWAR). By directional drilling, the oil
companies would only use about 2000
acres of this huge expanse.
But, there are environmental predictions
drilling there would harm the Caribou. They
made the same predictions in attempt
to stop the North Slope drilling. Since then, the
Caribou herd has increased
(at least trippled.) So much for enviro alarmism.