Big Oil Is After ANWR Again!

Today, a story emerged that stated the people behind our ever-present energy dependence--aka Big Oil--are once again trying to persuade Congress to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling once again. All throughout the Gee Dubya Bushie presidency they tried unsuccessfully to open ANWR. To this point, neither Congress, nor the Courts, have been willing to allow this.

I wrote the following commentary to the story, and to the many respondents who are either completely for drilling, or immovably against it.

"I'm against drilling in ANWR. The oil companies would have you believe that the area they want to drill in is of no consequence; when in fact, the area is one of the largest breeding and calving grounds for caribou and polar and grizzly bears. How can drilling NOT impact the area?

Also, Big Oil themselves state that they wouldn't even begin pumping oil for at least 10-15 years! Plus, they have no concrete data on the size of any oil reserves. They estimate, guess and then line the pockets of lobbyists and Congressmen, and spout "oil independence" to a gullible American public.

The last time I read (2005 I think), the US government was giving Big Oil over $5 BILLION dollars in tax breaks per year; but was only giving $7 million dollars towards energy research. Yeah...you read that correctly!

How about the idea that Congress puts $5B towards energy research, and give all of Big Oil just $7M in in tax breaks? After all, with the record profits regularly reported by Big Oil, do we, the people, the source of those record profits, really need to be giving these businesses tax breaks? C'mon! Think about it!

How much research; how much further could we get, if $5B per year were put into energy research? How many new industries [and jobs] would be created because of that investment? How much more secure would the United States be if oil were out of the political and economic landscape for good?

Throughout the history of the United States, anytime we were faced with having to improve, the people rose to the challenge. Just think of industrialization, the increased manufacturing capabilities during WWII, and the drive to reach the moon. Creating alternative, renewable energy resources could very well be the next wave of invention, world leadership and increased pride in being American!

ANWR drilling is NOT the answer! It's time that Congress stands up to Big Oil, and deflate their rather sizable...ahem...economic ego."