I disagree with ANWR but agree with nuclear. Drilling ANWR "enables" the underlying problem of oil addiction to continue. It needs to be emphasized strongly, repeatedly, and programmatically that the U.S. economy needs to "get off" oil and fossil fuels. Drilling ANWR perpetuates the old paradigm, which needs to change.
Well said......
The sky is falling, the sky is falling
In 1914, the U.S. Bureau of Mines declared that the United States would run out of oil in 10 years.
In 1939, the Department of the Interior predicted that oil reserves would last only 13 more years.
In 1950, when the world's estimated reserves were thought to be 600 billion barrels, the Department of Interior again projected the end of the age of oil by 1963.
Move forward to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which prompted the highly respected journal Foreign Affairs to publish an article on "The Oil Crisis: This Time the Wolf is Here."
In 1981, a respected textbook on economic geology predicted that the United States was entering a 125-year-long energy gap, expected to be at its worst in the year 2000 with dire consequences to our standard of living.
In 1995, a prominent geologist predicted that petroleum production would peak in 1996 and that after 1999 many of the developed world's societies would look like Third World countries.
In 1998, a Scientific American article titled "End of the Age of Oil" predicted that world oil production would peak in 2002 and that we would soon face the "end of the abundant and cheap oil on which all nations depend." from a Chris Bennet article 11/26/2004
In March 2004 the U.S. Department of Energy reported oil shale reserves in the United States of more than 2,000 billion barrels, enough for consumption at our current rate for over 200 years. While we do need expand alternatives, we also need to kick the lie spewing enviro-crazies to the curb and beging developing our own resources.
But ANWR is a viable short term solution. We will always make use of petroleum for the value added products that are derived from it (e.g., plastics, petrochemicals, etc.)
We need to be going in many directions:
-biodiesel
-methane reforming
-ethanol
-dimethyl ether
We're way behind with nukes, only 20% of our electricity...
Please don't misunderstand me. I did not mean instead of what is being proposed, but in addition to.
Minimizing dependence on the insane oil suppliers ASAP is essential.
Why? We have the resources to provide for our energy needs. We just need to develop them and quit sending our dollars to foriegn governments.