Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006
Today’s Anti-Strib question for Liberals: Why do you oppose drilling in ANWR?
The US Geological Survey estimates that ANWR contains 7,668,000,000 barrels of oil.
The United States consumes 19,000,000 barrels of oil per day. At the current US consumption rate, ANWR holds about 400 days worth of oil.
It would take two years to put the process in place to begin to pump this oil from the earth and bring it to market. No one ever mentions the cost to US tax payers for the roads that the government would be obligated to build to give the oil companies access to the refuge, the cost to US tax payers for the government to monitor the activities of the oil companies and the cost to US tax payers if there is an environmental accident in the refuge.
In addition, the oil companies have no responsibility to sell this oil into the US market.
My answer to why I oppose drilling in ANWR has nothing to do with the ‘pristine’ state of ANWR or the potential environmental damage. My opposition to drilling in ANWR has to do with the fact that it would be another scheme used by corporations to generate profits on the backs of US tax payers with little, if no benefit, to those tax payers.
Drilling in ANWR will not create energy independence for the United States. It will not drive down the cost of oil. There is no benefit for the citizens of the United States to drill in ANWR, except those who happen to work as executives in oil companies and those who happen to own a significant share of oil company stock. Drilling in ANWR is simply another proposed government give-a-way of US resources for corporate profit. I am against it.
