The main obstructionists are people who have never been there and have no idea what it is like other than the phony photos they see from "save the wilderness" morons. One of the favorite Alaskan bumper stickers for years has been one that reads: "Please God, grant us another pipeline. We promise not to piss it all away this time."
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Exactly -- the obstructionists are both the anti-American liberals and the mindless so-called "conservationists" these self-proclaimed experts of NOTHING. This would not have been so much of a problem, except for a VERY WEAK AND ACTIVIST CONGRESS which has pandered to the freaks of the left and prevented this nation from having A REAL, MEANINGFUL ENERGY POLICY -- ala Clinton/Gore just for starters.
Exactly -- the obstructionists are both the anti-American liberals and the mindless so-called "conservationists" these self-proclaimed experts of NOTHING.
You would find the Alaskan attitude refreshing. If you ask the average person, especially one who has been there a few years they will tell you that they consider themselves Alaskan first, U.S. citizen second. Another favorite expression is "We don't care how you do it in the lower 48" Rabid tree huggers and PETA anti-fur fanatics are a rare breed there and tend to keep their mouths (wisely) shut.
ANWAR
I am not opposed to it, but there are some myths about it.
It will not produce oil for U.S. domestic consumption or offset the importation of foreign sourced oil, in the short to medium term. The production plus transportation costs for ANWAR oil will make the retail cost of it such that it will all be sold in Asian markets, such as Japan, where they will be willing to pay for it.
And, due to increased worldwide demand, those exports to Asia will not reduce the amount of imported oil the U.S. domestic economy will need.
What ANWAR will do, which is a good thing, is that it will improve the economics of American-based oil companies, helping them to have the ROI and revenue to invest in and feed the American domestic economy from other sources, in time. But it will not come directly from ANWAR and it will only increase domestic sourced supplies by the extent that revenue from ANWAR is re-invested in such sources.