balance all public land values doesn't mean oil is always correct

[papau]

"We have done a very good job balancing the subsistence resources while allowing some areas to be opened to oil and gas drilling," said Susan Childs, energy and mineral planning coordinator for BLM's Alaska office, which oversees the plan.
BLM Alaska spokeswoman Jody Weil said "Our mission is to provide for multiple uses. A part of our mission is to protect wildlife, but also part of our mission is to allow for the development of resources. Our job is to find that balance in oil and gas mining."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drilling12jan12,0,2091716.story?track=tottext,0,2531474.story?track=tothtml

From the Los Angeles Times
THE NATION
U.S. Lifts Longtime Drilling Ban on Alaskan Wildlife Habitat
By Janet Wilson
Times Staff Writer

January 12, 2006

The Department of Interior on Wednesday approved oil and gas drilling on Alaska land considered such sensitive wildlife habitat that it was first protected by former Interior Secretary James G. Watt under President Reagan, and by four Interior secretaries since.

The decision — decried by Native American, hunting and environmental groups — comes just weeks after the U.S. Senate rejected drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, about 200 miles to the east.

Bureau of Land Management staff said the decision was made after three years of study and in response to requests by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

The plan, signed by Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Chad Calvert, will open up more than 500,000 acres in and around Teshekpuk Lake on Alaska's oil-rich North Slope. BLM officials estimate the northeast National Petroleum Reserve, including the lake area, may contain as much as 2 billion barrels of "economically recoverable" oil.

The area is a critical stop for molting geese on the Pacific flyway, with as many as 90,000 birds resting in flat wetlands in the summer. Up to 46,000 caribou also use areas near the lake for calving and migration paths. <snip>

[maxsolomon]

1. i'm a fatalist on this issue

get all the crude out of the ground as quickly & cleanly as possible, burn it all up, and then let the earth begin healing itself.

our "civilization" won't last too long after the oil is gone, but i'm convinced thats a GOOD thing.

[phantom power]

2. I sometimes wonder if ANWR is being used....

like a magician uses a hanky. We spend all this energy defending ANWR, time after time after time. Maybe they let us have it to provide the illusion of success. Meanwhile, the rape of the rest of the country continues at a historic pace.

[papau]

3. I suspect the same -the oil folks I knew ignored Government rules in their

planning.