Drilling supporters often tell opponents that they don’t have a clue since they’ve never even been in Alaska. I mentioned my trip only to let others know I’ve been to Alaska and I loved what I saw in the true wilderness. I never claimed that the trip gave me any special knowledge about the affects of oil drilling in ANWR. For information on that factor I referred you to the best authority available, the scientists who spend careers gathering relevant information. I did present other arguments (ANWR oil alternatives, TAP security, etc.) that were based on facts, common sense, and logic; no insider or local knowledge necessary.
I certainly would not feel justified in voicing my opinion on this issue if the only people affected were residents of Alaska. I’m all for local control of local issues. But the fact is that this is a national and international issue because of the unique ecosystem represented by ANWR, and because of the worldwide economic and environmental impact of continued dependence on fossil fuels. Another fact is that ANWR belongs to all citizens of the U.S., and as the poll I referred to indicated, the majority would prefer ANWR be preserved. So there is no outside influence here; we are all affected by the outcome.
I can certainly understand how you and others that want "no exploitation of natural resources in our back yard" are disappointed about all of those caribou and wetland birds that were not decimated when the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk oilfields were brought into production, and named the most enviromentally friendly oilfields on the face of the earth. I will ignore all of the environmental advances made in the oil industry, and directly attributable to the north slope oil fieilds in the last twenty years. I will actively resist any knowledge that I have of the efforts and monetary expenditures of the great state of Alaskain combating environmental damage.
It certainly makes no sense to me to exploit any of the natural resources in this great land of ours. We might as well tell those farmers in Nebraska to just let that land go back to the wild. We can buy our corn some other place, like maybe China. We can all just sit back and suck off the government tit and depend on folks like you to support us. It's just to bad for all of you uneducated folks that want to espire to something besides a job at Wal-Mart or McDonalds. I'm certain that office job you have is self supporting, and doesn't rely on any resource production to sustain it.</ sarcasm >
I might not have a college education, but I do know that if it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck you'd better have a shotgun that is loaded.