Drilling in Alaska Refuge


Orion_70

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I really don't see what the big deal is, really. Who here has ever been on a drilling location?? If you have, what kind of environmental damage have you seen? Drilling in Alaska is so closely regulated it is unbelievable. I truly don't think drilling will have much if any negative impact. It may at first, but trust me, the animals do get used to it. guys I work with tell me stories of deer milling around locations all the time. I have heard stories of moose being on drilling locations in Alaska to!

corrected spelling ..LOL grin.gif

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

Here's how I feel about this issue. While I am a hunter and a democrat and therefore am stereotyped into an ultra-liberal environmental lobby, I feel that something needs to be done in order to 1) Lower oil and gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil and 2) I feel that this drilling could be done with minimal damage to the surrounding ecosystem and all efforts should be made to protect the surrounding wildlife.

While I feel that America as a whole will be better served in the future by alternative energy sources, the technology does not yet exist for hydrogen powered cars that are economical or any of the other radical ideas that are set for the future. We should continue to work on and develop these ideas to lessen our dependence on oil, whether we get it from Alaska or a foreign country. But we need to do everything we can to lessen the burden on ourselves at this moment until we have the technology to safely harness alternative energy sources.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

Holy cow slug, you feeling okay?? I really expected you to come in and just rip this apart, I'm shocked to say the least. And to top that off I agree with everything you said.

Now I think I will go home and lay down awhile, as I feel faint!!!! grin.gif

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I was wondering who was gonna be the first I would lay out with this. I get periodic e-mails from JohnKerry.com from being signed up for news during the campaign. And usually I get things about signing up for on-line petitions over things going on in the Senate. I got one for this but didn't sign the petition because I feel that it can be done safely with minimal damage to the environment and hopefully will lower oil prices and eventually oil dependency. One of the critics said that it would be 10 years before we got any of the oil, which, I know nothing about drilling for oil but I don't believe it will take that long, besides, haven't we had pipelines running from Alaska for the past few decades. I seem to remember hearing about it when I was in elementary school in the 80's.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I think the TRANS_SIBERIAN Pipeline is up there, but I can't be for sure. The company I work for does quite abit of work in Alaska, so alot of what I say is first hand knowledge as it has been passed to me. I wish I had pictures of the drilling rigs up there to show on here, but I don't. Need to try and get some though.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I agree. In todays world, there are many safeguards in place to protect the environment.

I also agree with sluggo blush.gif in that all other alternative energy resources should be getting more attention and research.

Canadians need to do more drilling also.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I'm coming in on the other side on this one. I'm pretty right wing, this I disagree on though. We don't have many places that are untouched but I think we should leave those that are alone. The oil we could get out of there, according to the reports I've seen, is negligible, maybe 2% of what we use. I've been on plenty oil well sites in La. you've got a slush pit on the back that's contaminated for years, or maybe it's changed in the last few years. It's not so much the drilling rigs that do the damage, it's all the infrastructure that has to go in place to get the oil, miles and miles of roads.. Once you put a road through, you make all land there accessible. Land that people wouldn't be on if it weren't for the road there.

Instead of drilling in Alaska and giving away the oil to our Oil companies for pennies, why not spend that money on alternative fuels and alternative fuel stations. It would be amazing how many hydrogen stations the government could install in the states for a hundred million...

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

[ QUOTE ]

I agree. In todays world, there are many safeguards in place to protect the environment.

I also agree with sluggo blush.gif in that all other alternative energy resources should be getting more attention and research.

Canadians need to do more drilling also.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed but it would be nice if they put more into alter. sources. My generation wont be able to just drill a new hole.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

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We use 20 million barrels of crude a day, over half is imported. The drilling in Alaska would account for about 1 million barrels per day. Estimates show about 10.5 BILLION barrels of crude in the rufuge.

(Info from the CNN website)

[/ QUOTE ]

Hum, not too bad. We import 10 million BPD and we can get 1 million BPD from ANWR. That's a 10% reduction in imports! Now let's open our offshore fields in California and we can knock out another good chunk of imported oil.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

[ QUOTE ]

I am pretty mad at our senate. We shouldnt drill in alsaka. It is home to many animals and to take there habitat away is wrong. I never supported drilling in alsaka. I just dont think it is right!!

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Tell me folks...what would be the difference between drilling in Alaska and ripping farm land down in your home town and building houses or businesses? Either way the animals are going to scatter and go some place else to live...probably not too far away. I doubt they would be in any danger either. Let's listen to what we are saying here. We need the oil BAD!

When we shoot our weapons in the woods, the deer run right? About how far?...well that's about how far the animals would run when the drill goes into the ground smirk.gif

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

Well the way I heard it on the news today there wont be a drop of oil coming outta there for at least 10 years.Thats a long time to wait with oil prices climbing like they are now.I cant help but wonder if maybe instead of tearing up Alaska to get more oil the focus shouldnt shift a little more towards alternate fuel sources.Given 10 years we should be able to make pretty good headway towards finding something else.Just some random thoughts on the subject grin.gif

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

I just did a little research as far as where exactly ANWR is and how big it is. ANWR is 19 MILLION Acres, I saw a map and it is roughly the size of South Carolina. The TAPS pipeline runs parallel to the land albeit outside of the land but I am sure that tapping into the line wouldn't be a problem. I don't know how that stuff works anyway. From what I have heard, the entire drilling rig, platform, whatever it is they are planning to build would be roughly the size of Dulles International Airport. This area is in the top North Eastern corner of Alaska which means the human population there is probably like 1. Just think of the state of South Carolina being barren with just an airport on it, that is a lot of room left over. Not too mention that game animals are highly adaptable to their surroundings, especially in Alaska, my fiance has a sister that lives in Wasilla and they have Moose that walk down the streets.

As long as the drilling is done safely and all safeguards are met, the animals will be fine, land destruction will be negligible and hey, grass grows back, and who knows, eventually they may be running the animals off once they adapt to the changes.

I just hope that there is as much oil down there as they estimate there is to make this venture worthwhile and not a bust. With the existing pipelines I don't see how it would take 10 years to start getting anything out of the ground but while all this is happening they should still research alternative energy. 10 years ago an electric car was no better than a golf cart, look where we are today, in 10 years hydrogen power could be a viable option but for now we rely on oil. I bet 100 years ago the people who ran coal energy plants would have fought to the death if someone told them that coal energy would largely be replaced by other more efficient and cleaner forms of energy, just like in the future oil may be largely replaced, but for now we need it. Big changes like this don't happen over night.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

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like i said go ahead and drill but in the long run there needs to be a solution..not a quick fix.

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Totally agree with you. Eventually, if drilling does start up there, it will have to run out, if drilling up there does lower our prices down here, when that runs dry and we still haven't figured out by then a better alternative to remove our oil dependence, we will be floating up doo-doo creek.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

Last time they said nothing bad could happen to the enviroment up there this happened.

[ QUOTE ]

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound.

Over 11 million gallons of oil were spilled - the equivalent of 125 olympic sized swimming pools.

The oil slick coated 1,300 miles of shoreline and reached the village of Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula, 460 miles southwest of Bligh Reef. 200 miles were heavily or moderately coated. 1,100 miles were lightly or very lightly oiled.

It terms of actual volume spilled, the Exxon Valdez is no longer on the top 50 list of biggest international spills. However, in terms of damage to environment, it is considered number one. This is because of the rugged shore line - lots and lots of nooks and crannies for the oil to seep into, abundant wildlife, and the remote location.

An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed.

An estimated 2,800 sea otters were killed.

An estimated 300 harbor seals were killed.

An estimated 250 bald eagles were killed.

An estimated 22 killer whales were killed.

Billions of fish eggs were destoyed.

Even today, in most areas that were heavily slimed, one can take a garden spade, dig down a few inches and hit "bubblin' crude", Just like Jed Clampett - although not at all funny.

In 1991, the US Government and the State of Alaska settled their lawsuit against Exxon for $900 million.

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That was less than 20 years ago.Drilling is only part of the process of getting the oil down to the lower 48 states.Theyve made improvements on the safegaurds against this type of thing happening but it dont change the fact, they cant gaurantee with 100% accuracy the nothings going to harm the enviroment up there.

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Re: Drilling in Alaska Refuge

Horst that was a ship that ran aground, just so happens it was in Alaska. Do you realize how many ships are out there full of oil, and that this could happen at any given time? Think of all the oil that we import, how does it get to us from wherever it is coming from?

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