Pushing ANWR now
makes perfect sense

SOME NEWS MEDIA are criticizing Sen. Ted Stevens and other members of the Alaska congressional delegation for pushing to open ANWR to oil drilling because of the soaring cost of energy.

They suggest the argument is some form of specious opportunism because the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge couldn't be explored and developed in time for this summer's driving season.

And, of course, the drive-by media go right to the Sierra Club to get what is presented as . . .

(cont'd from front page) "the other side" of the argument, as though the green zealots' opinions were of equal value in the debate.

The interviews are invariably accompanied by footage of a large herd of caribou, but what they don't mention is that the caribou scene is obviously in the foothills of the Brooks Range, nowhere near the area proposed for drilling.

We must admit there is a specious form of logic involved in such interviews since opening ANWR would be a long-term solution to the problem and couldn't impact prices anytime soon. Nothing could.

And since the Sierra Club and other environmental activists control the votes of key Democrats in Congress, getting ANWR and other promising oil and gas provinces in America open is perhaps unlikely in the short term.

But if Bill Clinton had not vetoed ANWR legislation in 1995, the big reservoirs there could now be producing at a very high volume. Stupidity then caused today's pain. Only a foolish nation would expose its economy to such jeopardy twice.

The high price of gasoline has the public's attention, so now is the time to educate voters on what is really at stake in ANWR. That will raise the price on cheap environmental votes and perhaps get people to understand what gobbledegook the green activists are spreading.

Even if the greens have a death-grip on the votes of key politicians, including the three leading candidates for president, now is still the best time to make people aware of what is at stake and what blind obedience to the dictates of green zealots is doing to the nation as a whole.

If the payoff is not today or the current congressional session, it will come. The United States cannot continue down this blind alley forever.