Jun
17
Question: What is all the fuss about drilling for oil in ANWR?
Filed Under Current Events, Opinions and Attitudes
This is a topic that has confused me for years, what is wrong with drilling for oil in ANWR? I hear the tree huggers crying about some wilderness critters that might be bothered by it, but from the looks of this picture (top), of an exploration rig, that is there now, or was in the past, it doesn’t much look like anything lives there! So, what is all the fuss about? (The image links to ANWR.org)
Maybe it is the images of West Texas, where the pumps, not the derricks, cover the landscape like iron cattle? Sorry, couldn’t find a photo of that, but I have seen it! That could be a scary thing, but, in a place like ANWR, it wouldn’t be like that, why, you ask? Simple, those places in West Texas, were at one time, multiple parcels of land, owned by a lot of individuals there, and oil drilling was just getting started! There used to be hundreds of oil companies, just in West Texas! Time went on and the biggies started forming, so that they could afford to do more, and Boom, there were a lot of oil rich Texans! That is why people from elsewhere used to make jokes about Texans having oil rigs in their back-yards!
Now, back to the animals that live there, I live in an area, that is much like West Texas, but covered in trees, mostly oak, mesquite, cedar, and other scrub brush. Yes, in Texas, between Austin and Houston, and there is one thing I can assure you, the oil rigs here, don’t bother any of the many critters that live here! See my point? As in the picture above, there is plenty of room for the animals to move over a little bit! Ok, the traffic in and out, yes, that is a pain, while the drilling is going on, but that is over pretty quick, once the well has a pump on it. Yes, the well pumps do make noise, but it isn’t bad, I have one about a hundred yards or so from my house. No, its not mine, but there are a lot of them around here.
Ok, lets move on to how it is done these days, when they drill in a “forest”, they make one little road in to the drill site, like in the middle photo, do their thing drilling and getting to the oil, even if they have to drill sideways, then, they clean up the mess, and leave a pump behind.
Ok, where does the oil go when they pump it out? That depends I guess, on like how many areas they drill and how far apart they are, they set up tanks, or run a small pipeline between them to connect to each other, and route that to a central collection area, where trucks fill up and haul it off.
That is what they do here, and believe me, the wildlife is just fine! Although the truck drivers, and the people that live here as well, hit deer with their trucks or cars on a regular basis, and all that does is thin the herd, the stupid ones get flattened, but most of the others don’t! Actually, we have an over population problem, not people, deer! Deer are a nuisance, they eat up gardens, small trees, flower beds, you name it! So, if having people here, along with the oil rigs, doesn’t bother the animals, bugs either, what harm can an oil rig in the middle of nowhere do?
This bottom picture is of an oil rig in West Texas somewhere, I chose this one because it is a black and white, so it might help you imagine what an oil rig in ANWR could look like! Just imagine that the sand is snow!
I know that people today think they are in charge of the planet, but this planet was here long before us humans, and the planet Earth will most likely be here long after!
Human’s are more likely to die of stupidity, than an environmental issue! Common sense is becoming a thing of the past, and it shows, so how can we be expected to understand that it is even happening, when to some of us, it is so obvious!
So, next time you complain about the price of gasoline, thank the tree huggers that have influenced our society, even as they drive those hybrids and such, looking down on the rest of us who don’t! What do you think?
All of that oil just sitting there, waiting on someone to come get it, so, why don’t we? Lets start with an assumption, that we as individuals know more than the collective, and our ideas are the right ones. Here are a few of mine.
- If the U.S.A. hangs on to these untapped areas, until the oil gets used up elsewhere, then the U.S.A., would hold all of the marbles!
- Possibly, holding on to these reserves until the price of oil is like $500 a barrel, and gasoline is like $25 a gallon, we could pay off our national debt!
- Hey, Bill Clinton stopped it, that must be the right thing to do!
- Drilling in ANWR would just be too easy, lets spend the next 20 years developing a new technology, that has become affordable now, and will get even cheaper as the price of oil goes up!
- Since it would take years to get anything out of it, lets just keep on waiting!
I could keep on, but I’ll leave that up to you! Post it in your comments.
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