|
 |
|
|
|
Alaska Pipeline Story Gets Short Shrift |
|
|
|
Written On: November 22, 2002 |
|
|
|
Earlier this month, Alaska was rocked by one of the strongest earthquakes in memory. The magnitude 7.9 quake left a 145-mile-long crack across the landscape and rocked boats on lakes 3,000 miles away in Louisiana.
Needless to say, the quake was big news.
But, lost in all the quake coverage was the fact that the Trans-Alaska pipeline survived virtually unscathed. Contrary to dire warnings from environmentalists that the 800-mile pipeline would collapse in a quake, spilling millions of gallons of oil onto the tundra, the pipeline performed as promised. Designed to move with the earth in the event of an earthquake, the pipeline shifted 7 ½ feet horizontally and 2 ½ feet vertically during the quake. The shaker broke several support beams, but the pipeline held.
The November 3 quake was the toughest possible test for the pipeline, and it passed with flying colors. So why wasn’t this big news? Perhaps it’s the nature of news itself that “bad news is good news.” After all, if something performs as expected, that’s not news. But, the Trans-Alaska pipeline has been the focus of national controversy for those who oppose and support drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
When oil exploration began in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay 30 years ago, environmentalists claimed it would yield only a few months’ supply of oil, that the pipeline would devastate caribou breeding grounds, and the inevitable pollution and spills would wreck the ecosystem. In reality, Prudhoe Bay turned out to be the largest deposit of oil ever discovered in North America, the caribou population has skyrocketed from 3,000 to 27,000, and the ecosystem remains intact.
Based on that success – and improved technology developed over the past 30 years supporters say the evidence is in – that oil exploration can take place in the ANWR without harming the environment. New drill heads can drill in several different directions underground from a single above-ground drilling pad. Construction roads carved into the ice over winter would melt away in spring. And actual drilling would affect only 2,000 acres of the 19-million acre reserve.
Nonetheless, Democrat lawmakers are vowing to filibuster any attempt by the White House to include drilling in ANWR as part of an overall energy bill.
Quite simply, that position is no longer defensible or responsible. In 1974, when America was hit by the OPEC oil embargo, we imported 36 percent of our oil. Today, that figure is up to 55 percent. Now, more than ever, energy independence is a matter of economic and national security.
The dire warnings we’re hearing about the ANWR are the same ones we heard about the Prudhoe Bay and the pipeline. They were untrue then, and they are untrue now.
This is no time for knee-jerk partisan politics. The facts are in, it is time to act.
|
|
|
|
