Opening ANWR to Stop Climate Change? Tell Me Another One
Author: Charles Wohlforth, Alaska Dispatch News
November 5, 2017
Now we want to drill for oil on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to hold back climate change.
Or so Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott told a U.S. Senate committee hearing on Thursday. Every other argument had been tried, most of them for decades. They were all trotted out again, even the ones that no longer made sense.
The truth is so much simpler. Alaskans want to drill for oil in ANWR because we want the money. That’s really the only reason.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting economic development, jobs and government services, and not wanting taxes. That’s what oil money buys. Call it greed if you like, but we go to work every day for money, too. Humanity survives on Earth by using natural resources.
But in an honest debate about drilling the refuge, our desire for money isn’t highly persuasive with the owners of the refuge, who are all of America’s citizens. Polls generally show the public opposed by a wide margin. The oil companies stay away from the issue because it is so unpopular.
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