Comments on You Can Still Stop Them Drilling in the Arctic Refuge!

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ZenResistance,

I don't want to see more refineries here or anywhere because, however much oil we have now, which is probably enough to meet everyone's needs, we will eventually run out of it.  Better to invest in technologies such as hydrogen and solar power that may pay for themselves in the long-run, and not make climate change worse.

I don't much care whether or not they drill in ANWR, but the eagerness of the Administration and the oil industry to drill there is one of many indications of its indifference, bordering on disdain, for alternative, cleaner, more efficient energy sources.  It will prove on balance to have been unwise to let the oil industry set our energy policy.

posted by Dylan24 on May 17, 2005 at 6:18 PM | link to this | reply

ANWR

Having several hiker/survivalist and geologist friends who have actually been to the ANWR, I support drilling there. They do, too. Much of that area, the bulk of it, is about as pretty and full of life as the surface of the moon. Also, the area that's being targeted for drilling is very small compared to the size of the place, and the technology and the location are quite suited to one another and less likely to produce some kind of freak ecological disaster.

Moreso than opening up for drilling, I am keen on the idea of more refineries in the USA. That's really our big problem, that we don't have the refining capacity to keep up with demand. The oil is there, for the most part. We just can't turn it into gasoline fast enough.

There's a lot in this argument that neither the conservatives nor the liberals are talking about. I think it's mostly because both would have to admit that the other does indeed have a lick of sense. That's the kind of bull**** that keeps anything of substance happening in this damn country.

posted by zenresistance on May 16, 2005 at 12:33 PM | link to this | reply

I am ambivalent on this question because I do not see any great harm in drilling in the arctic per se, although I think the administration's overall energy policy is atrocious. 

The Bush team is touting this as a way to be energy independent, but there is not enough oil here to be energy independent without alternative sources.

posted by Dylan24 on May 6, 2005 at 6:40 PM | link to this | reply