and thus she begins. . .

[kisara]

I promise you that I'm not now going to become some soapboxie environmentalist, but this is a part of work I was more than happy to bring home. . .

Yesterday, our lovely house of reps. decided to pass a bill that lumped the ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge) issue together with hurrican relief, funds for avian flu pandimic prevention, and federal subsidies for low income people. Now, regardless of where you stand on the issue of drilling for oil in national parks, I think everyone can plainly agree that lumping such an issue with others of that nature, making it difficult for our senators and congressional members not to vote "yay" on it. . . Well, it's wrong.


THIS BILLS HAS PASSED THE HOUSE, IT NOW MUST PASS SENATE.

And soooo. . .

I encourage everyone to call their senators asking them to vote "nay" on this bill. This bill must be decided before the end-of-the-year break. PLEASE CALL. Do not write or send emails, as there really isn't much time and phone calls. . they're very annoying. And, as it happens, a similar bill was defeated in such a manner last-time it was purposed.


It can be everyone's "good deed" for the day.

[Baakay]

I promise you that I'm not now going to become some soapboxie environmentalist, but this is a part of work I was more than happy to bring home. . .

Yesterday, our lovely house of reps. decided to pass a bill that lumped the ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge) issue together with hurrican relief, funds for avian flu pandimic prevention, and federal subsidies for low income people. Now, regardless of where you stand on the issue of drilling for oil in national parks, I think everyone can plainly agree that lumping such an issue with others of that nature, making it difficult for our senators and congressional members not to vote "yay" on it. . . Well, it's wrong.


THIS BILLS HAS PASSED THE HOUSE, IT NOW MUST PASS SENATE.

And soooo. . .

I encourage everyone to call their senators asking them to vote "nay" on this bill. This bill must be decided before the end-of-the-year break. PLEASE CALL. Do not write or send emails, as there really isn't much time and phone calls. . they're very annoying. And, as it happens, a similar bill was defeated in such a manner last-time it was purposed.


It can be everyone's "good deed" for the day.

OK, I need to ask for clarification. The Refuge bill is the one that would allow drilling? Or is it something else?

*sigh* I kinda exerted my political oomph on the Patriot Act thing (no, I didn't mind if they extended it as long as they required SOME kind of judicial review. Spy on me if you like, just get the damn warrant first. If you have a good reason to spy on me, the judge will give it to you. Easy.)

But yep, I'll call our senator if that's what's going on here... he is surprisingly open-minded and reasonable (in the original sense of the word: he applies reason to any issue rather than blindly follow party lines on either side).

That's LOW, stuffing projects that couldn't fly on their own into pork bills at the last minute. Sheesh.

[Cloud]

Wow you are very polite. Call me anytime. What bothers you about them?

[blueheaven]

Yes, the bill would allow the administration to begin drilling the refuge for oil. This isn't exactly new news. The Bush administration has tried this before, and failed. They will use this for fodder in the 2008 campaign, claiming that Liberals voted against spending on the troops and Hurricane Katrina victims. It's a win-win situation for them. If they win, they get to drill. If they lose, they get to run attack ads in 2008 and fool another fifty million morons into believing their crap. Its a lot like the whole "I voted for the $86 million before I voted against it" Kerry ad they ran over and over. Um, folks, he was telling the truth. Kerry co-wrote the bill and cited that tax increases on the upper 20% were needed to pay for it. But Bush changed the bill and removed the tax increases(which would drive our national debt higher), so Kerry voted against it. Sorry, but it still pisses me off that we have to endure another few years of this BS. Once again, another term goes by and not one single thing has improved.

How's that for a soapbox rant?

[Baakay]

How's that for a soapbox rant?

[Crystal]

Sorry to pee on your parade but you have a few things wrong.

It's pretty much standard operating procedure to attach riders that are irrelevant to a bill being considered for passage. You just don't hear about it because they aren't very big deals. It's the only way junior members of Congress can get their pet projects up for a vote let alone have a chance at passage.

As for drilling in ANWR I ask you , do you have flush toilets? Running water? Kaktovik, a Native village inside ANWR, just got those things in 2000. The Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation owns the surface rights to the land likely to be opened for exploration. The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation owns the subsurface rights to these areas. They own about 100,000 acres in the region. Both groups want oil elxploration in ANWR. Current law prevents developing any energy resources that may underlie their lands. It seems unfair that these Native groups were given these lands yet they are forbidden to develop them as they see fit.

You can call what Senator Stevens did sneaky but from my perspective as an Alaskan he's only trying to do what's fair. With the money the Native corporations get from lease sales and exploration they will finally be able to join the 21st century. They're owed that much, to be able to have the things others take for granted. This money will benefit all Natives not just the ones on the Arctic Slope.

Regardless of the amount of oil, exploring ANWR will provide high paying, long-term jobs to a lot of people. Any exploration will take place in the winter where, outside of any human inhabitants, the area is home to a lot of dark and cold. Only if enough oil is found will there be any permanent structures. That may be a decade or more away.

For the record, Anchorage (where I live) has more wildlife in it than we know what to do with. Moose, black bears, brown bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, eagles, and countless other birds and mammals make their home here. A quarter million plus people don't bother them in the least.

[Cloud]

Not many people say both.

[Baakay]

Sorry to pee on your parade but you have a few things wrong.

It's pretty much standard operating procedure to attach riders that are irrelevant to a bill being considered for passage. You just don't hear about it because they aren't very big deals. It's the only way junior members of Congress can get their pet projects up for a vote let alone have a chance at passage.

We actually hear about these things ALL the time. It's been standard operating procedure for a very, very long time. Still doesn't make the statement that it's low *wrong* It's been low and cheesy and sneaky -- to say nothing of contrary to many taxpayer's wishes -- ever since I've been here, and according to my dad (74) as long as he's been here, too

However!! That aside, it is very interesting hearing from someone who actually lives there about feelings there. My gut instinct is always to avoid messing with Mother Nature whenever there's an alternative, but I'm working from the perspective of seeing what happens when people interested ONLY in the bucks go in and mine or log without using modern techniques to make sure the land can bounce back. Given that I know nothing about drilling oil I don't know what such techniques would be.

It seems slightly skewed that if these two groups actually own the rights they can't USE them. Just goes to show there is ALWAYS another side to a story, and if you listen you might learn something. I shall have to ponder this further.



I still don't like the idea of them sticking the bill in with this other particular batch of emotionally-laden aid bills though.

[Not Sir Phobos]

Wow, that's the first I've heard from anyone actually in Alaska on this issue. Seems like you guys want it pretty bad. If what the senator did was being fair then I've gotta go with what you say.

Plus I'm all for as much oil independence as possible

[Crystal]

If Congress had kept their promises to the Natives they wouldn't have to have waited 20+ years and Senator Stevens wouldn't have had to resort to that kind of tactic now. It takes a lot of money to bring the basic necessities of life to northern villages. Money made by the native corporations from lease sales and drilling on their land will benefit all the tribes. Here's a word to Google: honeybucket.

Here's some fun trivia: Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the United States put together. Alaska is so big that if you cut it in half then you'd have TWO states bigger than Texas. Thankfully President Bush hasn't held that against us. When they first opened Prudhoe Bay, the amount of oil there was vastly underestimated. They won't even have a proper estimate of the oil in ANWR until they explore for it and they have to do that during the winter. They don't randomly poke holes in the ground to look for it, they use seismic readings. Since Prudhoe Bay became an active, producing field the caribou in the area have increased not declined.

It's like the Natives were given an important and useful gift but the the giver suddenly turned around and said "Uh, uh! You can look but you can't touch!" It's overlooked by the environmentalists that the Natives hold land in ANWR. It shouldn't take an act of Congress to give them the rights to use it.

Unlike a lot of riders, the provision to drill in ANWR won't cost the taxpayers anything. In fact the 50/50 split of profits will add money to the treasury.

[blueheaven]

My cousin was a police officer for 30 years in Anchorage, so I do have some perspective on this. The Natives in Alaska can join the 21st century whenever they want, if they'd only learn to use their federal dollars in a correct way. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, the fact remains that it is nothing more than a tactic by the Bush camp to get a bill passed by using our troops and flood victims as a hat. If you want to help, call your senator and ask them to place tighter restrictions on SUV's and trucks for oil consumption. Let's start phasing out these Hummers and F-350's that get 7MPG. And, for the record, no one owes the Natives a damn thing. My mothers family are Native American, and they never asked for a thing. Get over it and move on.

Edit: Apparently now, the point is moot for a while.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051221/ap_ ... MlJVRPUCUl

[vapalla]

I found this article from the Washington Post regarding the the Inupiat who live on the land there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 32_pf.html


In addition, the Gwich'in people who live just outside the refuge are against it as they think of that area as sacred and they rely on the Cabibou.

I also heard that when the oil finally starts flowing in 10 years, it will only decrease the price per gallon by a penny.At best the anount of oil likely to be pumpd is about 600 million to 9.2 billion barrels. By comparison, the present US demand is at about 8 billion barrels per year and rising. I think that conservation would make much more sense than temporarilly helping out a tribe that isn't even universally in agreement over the decision. In addition, the area, with unique arctic wetlands complex, is of vital importance to many species who pass through the area, and some are endangered.

If this drilling was of vital importance, perhaps I would support it, but it really seems to be giving too little and we lose too much.

[Cloud]

Also? Who said when the oil finally starts flowing in 10 years it will only decrease the price per gallon by a penny? And then what happened?

[soda]

this is going downhilll quickly...

[Not Sir Phobos]

I also heard that when the oil finally starts flowing in 10 years, it will only decrease the price per gallon by a penny.At best the anount of oil likely to be pumpd is about 600 million to 9.2 billion barrels.

Not drilling because it won't fix the oil issue for the rest of our born lives is not really a way to look at this issue properly. We need more independance from foreign oil, that everyone can agree on. It's like having flies on your leg, just because you can't get them all with one swat doesn't mean you shouldn't swat at all.