Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed off on a plan Thursday to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, some in areas important for migratory birds, whales and wildlife.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed off on a plan Thursday to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, some in areas important for migratory birds, whales and wildlife.
As a native Alaskan, all I can say is...its about time.
These same wackos were screaming when they built the pipeline across Alaska. They said the pipeline would destroy the habitat of the caribou in that area. You know what has happened? The caribou population has more than doubled in size. I'm not kidding, the pipeline seemingly spurred an explosion in the population. Now there are concerns that there are too many caribou, but that's an issue for another post.
Unlike many of the people who are going to weigh in with their opinions on this story, I have actually been to the North Slope. I have seen Barrow and Prudhoe Bay. These places aren't the pristine wildernesses you're thinking of, they're frozen deserts. Yes, some animals live there. So what. There's lots of space up there and these oil developments aren't going to be taking up very much of it.
Plus, the oil companies that presently work in Alaska are unbelievably conscious of the environment. They go through great pains to minimize the impact they have on the land around them. If the companies moving into these new areas keep up the same kind of standards (if they aren't, in fact, the same companies) then I don't think we're going to have a problem at all.