MsUnderestimated » 2006 » April

The Case for ANWR - From Native Inupiat Eskimos

April 25th, 2006 at 11:07 by MsUnderestimated

I have seen very few sites that have stated the case for ANWR more than the ANWR homepage itself. But, they have a new slick, very informative and compelling flashmovie, Narrated by a Native Inupiat Eskimo from that area. His name is Fenton Rexford, from Kaktovik, Alaska. I truly can’t improve on the website’s content, so I’m just going to share some of it with you here. I do urge you, however, to visit the site and look around.

Here’s a bit about the local support:

Organizations representing the residents of the Coastal Plain and surrounding area such as the City of Kaktovic, Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Doyon Regional Corporation and Alaskan Federation of Natives have all endorsed development based on their experience with Prudhoe Bay.

ANWR Support.jpg

There are also facts to predict strong jobs growth; not just for Alaska, but for the entire United States.

ANWR.org has their OWN “Top 10,” and I think they’re worth considering:

TOP 10 REASONS TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT IN ANWR

1. Only 8% of ANWR Would Be Considered for Exploration: Only the 1.5 million acre or 8% on the northern coast of ANWR is being considered for development. The remaining 17.5 million acres or 92% of ANWR will remain permanently closed to any kind of development. If oil is discovered, less than 2000 acres of the over 1.5 million acres of the Coastal Plain would be affected. That¹s less than half of one percent of ANWR that would be affected by production activity.

2. Revenues to the State and Federal Treasury: Federal revenues would be enhanced by billions of dollars from bonus bids, lease rentals, royalties and taxes. Estimates on bonus bids for ANWR by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Interior for the first 5 years after Congressional approval are 4.2 billion dollars.

3. Jobs To Be Created: Between 250,000 and 735,000 ANWR jobs are estimated to be created by development of the Coastal Plain.

4. Economic Impact: Between 1977 and 2004, North Slope oil field development and production activity contributed over $50 billion to the nations economy, directly impacting each state in the union.

5. America’s Best Chance for a Major Discovery: The Coastal Plain of ANWR is America’s best possibility for the discovery of another giant “Prudhoe Bay-sized” oil and gas discovery in North America. U.S. Department of Interior estimates range from 9 to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

6. North Slope Production in Decline: The North Slope oil fields currently provide the U.S. with nearly 16% of it’s domestic production and since 1988 this production has been on the decline. Peak production was reached in 1980 of two million barrels a day, but has been declining to a current level of 943,000 barrels a day.

7. Imported Oil Too Costly: In 2004 the US imported an average of 58% of its oil and during certain months up to 64%. That equates to over $150 billion in oil imports and over $170 billion including refined petroleum products. That¹s $19.9 million dollars an hour! Including defence costs the number would be nearly a trillion dollars.

8. No Negative Impact on Animals: Oil and gas development and wildlife are successfully coexisting in Alaska ’s arctic. For example, the Central Arctic Caribou Herd (CACH) which migrates through Prudhoe Bay has grown from 3000 animals to its current level of 32,000 animals. The arctic oil fields have very healthy brown bear, fox and bird populations equal to their surrounding areas.

9. Arctic Technology: Advanced technology has greatly reduced the ‘footprint” of arctic oil development. If Prudhoe Bay were built today, the footprint would be 1,526 acres, 64% smaller.

10. Alaskans Support: More than 75% of Alaskans favor exploration and production in ANWR. The Inupiat Eskimos who live in and near ANWR support onshore oil development on the Coastal Plain.

If anybody can present a cogent argument to me to refute this veritable gold-mine, I invite you to do so - but please bring facts and ammunition. I will not debate with an intellectually unarmed idiot.

P.S. ANWR is not the total answer… but it is a necessary start.

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Like Oil & Water, Gas-Price Gouging Claims & Sanity Don’t Mix

April 25th, 2006 at 08:36 by MsUnderestimated

I came home today from listening to news audio snippets of all the politicians, including the President, railing on the “big oil companies” about profit this, gouging that, windfall taxes, etc., etc., ad infinitum. Hell, Sen. Chuck-E-Cheese Schumer wants to break up the big “monopolies” so they can have more control over the companies like Exxon-Mobil, Shell, etc. Why? It’s simply a power-play by both sides, and a smack in the face to intelligent voters who understand the truth about basic economics, supply and demand, and a free-market economy.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans have this one wrong, as well as the general public. I just heard the stupidest quote on TV I think I’ve ever heard. Some female being spot-intereviewed about gas prices actually said “We’ve got places to go and need gas, and they’re making a profit from it!!!!” What? How DARE they make a profit on a commercial product!

Does anybody but me see anything wrong with this statement? If so, then you know where I’m going with this. Anybody agree with her ridiculous statement wholeheartedly? Well, in the famous words of Bill Engvall, “Here’s your sign.”

There’s also the matter of a little thing called “capitalism” and the term “supply and demand.” What if we do slam the oil companies with “windfall profit taxes?” Who do you think is going to pay those taxes? The oil companies? You’re crazy if you believe that. Corporations do not “pay” taxes - they “collect” taxes from their employees, share-holders, and the consumers. So if we impose these insane taxes on the oil companies, it’s coming out of our pockets, folks! Wake up!

Do you know that the average oil company make about 9 cents profit per gallon of gas? Do you also know that in most states, an average of 50 cents per gallon consists of taxes! So “who’s doin’ who here?” If the government wants to bring down prices, they can eliminate some of their ludicrious taxes. After all, for the 9 cents the oil company gets in profit from us, we at least get a product or service. What do we get from the 50+ cents the government collects? We get the shaft…that’s what we get!

Okay, now let’s go for some facts and statistics from the EIA. I’d encourage all of you to spend some time on this site. It’s the most comprehensive, concise, and easy-to-understand website I’ve found on energy demand, costs, production, etc. Here is a list of world crude oil prices for your perusal. Do you see THAT much disparity in oil prices to the rest of the world? If oil costs $73 a barrel here, then it pretty much costs $73 everywhere else. Looking at these figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), you can see in projected oil consumption up to 2025, China and other “Emerging Asian” countries are estimated to have higher consumption at 33.6M barrels per day by 2025. For that same projected year, North America’s projected consumption is 32.9M barrels per day.

I’d highly suggest for all the data, good and bad, to go this website’s “Ask an Expert” page for any energy question you might have.

I also found some very interesting energy & environmental facts about China:

ENVIRONMENT

China suffers from major energy-related environmental problems. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), seven of the world’s ten most polluted cities are in China. The country’s heavy use of unwashed coal leads to large emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. China also is important to any effort to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, as it is projected to experience the largest absolute growth in carbon dioxide emissions between now and the year 2025.

China is a non-Annex I country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, meaning that it has not agreed to binding targets for reduction of carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. While the Chinese government is concerned with its environmental problems, it tends to be more concerned with local problems, such as particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emissions. Thus, it is undertaking efforts to lessen emissions of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, through improved pollution controls on power plants as well as policies designed to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s fuel mix, particularly around major metropolitan areas.

So, does anybody still doubt why the U.S. wisely never signed on to the Kyoto Protocol? Why should we pay for China’s environmental issues?

And for those of you who think the Exxon-Mobil executive, Lee Raymond, got too much money when he retired, I ask you this: What did you do to earn the company for which you work $40M last year? Their share-holders are happy about that, and happy share-holders invest more into the economy. Plus, since when do we want the federal government telling private companies how much they can or cannot pay their employees? Oh, that’s right… they already do just that - the minimum wage. Yuck.

Oh, I have one more thought to leave you with:

Figures are according to the Energy Information Administration, on Weekly Retail Premium Motor Gasoline Prices Including Taxes as of 04/01/06. Note: This figure does not include the country of China or India.

So, looking at the legend, who wants to be paying $5 to $7.50 a gallon? Folks, we have it better than any other industrialized country in the world. We are getting off CHEAP contrary to what you believe or are told by the media!

Also seen at Expose the Left, Michelle Malkin, Right on the Right, Right Wing News, Jo’s Cafe, and Stop the ACLU.

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The Case for ANWR - From Native Inupiat Eskimos

Like Oil & Water, Gas-Price Gouging Claims & Sanity Don’t Mix

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