Interior Finishes Plan on Alaska Drilling

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-exec/2004/jan/22/012209069.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed off on a plan Thursday for opening most of an 8.8 million-acre swath of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development. Some of the drilling could occur in areas important for migratory birds, whales and wildlife.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will use the plan to manage a northwest portion of the government's 23.5 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Geologists believe the reserve may contain 6 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil.

It is located just west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where President Bush wants to open a 1.5 million-acre coastal plain to drilling as one of his top energy priorities. The Senate, in debating a massive

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[RC]

1. Tell me again how much this will cost

and how long this oil will supply this country?

[roguevalley]

2. It will cost an arm and a leg and supply only a drop at the rate we are

using it up. But we will destroy one of the last pristine
wild places left on earth.

[jeffreyi]

3. Sickening.

This makes my heart hurt. They are so GD brazen. I think NRDC is one of the more effective groups in dealing with this and I'm supporting them w/ donations. We gotta get those ***holes outta there.

[dusty64]

4. Full blown pillaging

before the election. Guess they are desperate and afraid of a fair election, maybe they haven't gotten enough of their "voting" machines in place to ensure their desired outcome. Hopefully this can be reversed quickly by our elected Democratic President next year before the irreversable damage can be done.

[Kool Kitty]

5. All this destruction, for, what-

six months' worth of oil? And is this the way things are done now, no debate, no accountability? Oh, the people might protest, so we'll just put it through all sneaky-like? I'm so glad we live in a free society with elected officials that pay attention to the people that elected them...