Greetings,
Here is a post gleaned from the Oklahoma Birds Website. Although this
posting doesn't pertain specifically to birds, the ramifications of the
issue if true should be a concern to all members of this listserve in its
impact to all of the birds and other species affected by the already passed
legislation. If the article is indeed factual, I would encourage all
members, and anyone else that can be roused into action, to contact their
legislators to take action on this issue immediately.
There are many points that can be argued on the issue, including the
article's point of 'trading' an export barrel of Alaskan oil for an import
barrel elsewhere. I'm not going to go into that and I don't believe that
this forum is the place to argue any of it, SO PLEASE DO NOT START A WEEK
LONG POINT / COUNTER-POINT DEBATE. IT DOESN'T BELONG HERE. However, I bring
up the issue here to raise people's awareness so that they can seek out more
information and make an educated decision on the issue on their own as to
what action they feel that they should take.
I personally do believe, however, that if we are going to do centuries worth
of damage to the environment on a pristine piece of American soil to extract
about a year's worth of oil, then that product better damn well be staying
in this country to possibly reduce our dependency on foreign oil, no matter
to what small degree, and to be utilized by the people that will never live
long enough to see the land returned to its former undisturbed grandeur.
Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD
----- Original Message -----
From: Berlin A. Heck
To:
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 7:55 PM
Subject: Oil Exports
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002245699_export17m.html
Check the article above from the Seattle paper. Prior to 2000, about 7% of
Alaska pipline oil was exported to S. Korea, Japan, and China. Then the
SUV--woops! I mean oil crunch-- hit and exports were halted. Now pipeline
oil goes to Washington state where there are ports and refineries (the money
for it goes to Washington DC). However, if drilling is begun in the ANWR,
things may change. The written law, if passed to authorize drilling,
prohibits export of Refuge oil, but no law prohibits export of other oil in
the pipeline. And projected production from the Refuge would produce more
oil than can be handled in Washington state, so it might be exported once
again. This would be a kick in the pants and a travesty to Alaskan
wildlife.
Berlin Heck
Broken Bow |