March 17, 2005
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THURSDAY WHATEVERANWR
I confess to being woefully undereducated in the area of energy sources. So I will be watching (online that is – not on the TV lack-of-news) to learn more about the outcome of an energy conference held in London yesterday where energy and environment ministers from 20 countries considered methods of reducing reliance on fossil fuels, which create the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The conference will also highlight the business opportunities of investing in environmentally sound industries. However, the US is expected to hold firm to its opposition to discussing the future of the UN-brokered Kyoto protocol on climate change. The current provisions of the treaty, which bind developed nations to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, expires in 2012. It’s my memory (correct me if I’m wrong) that my country is one of only a few to oppose this agreement. My Land of the Free and Home of the Brave would rather destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. By a vote of 51 to 49, the Senate yesterday defeated a ban on oil exploration on the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the ANWR. I’m proud to say that both Oregon Senators (even Gordon Smith) voted for the ban. (See how your senators voted in the article at bottom.) With our 70% dependence on oil from overseas for energy, the Bush administration’s solution is to dive bomb one of the last truly pristine wildlife sanctuaries in the world. It ain’t over till it’s over though.
Substantial legislative hurdles remain before drilling could begin. The biggest hurdle is a budget.
Senate Republicans are using the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution as the vehicle for authorizing oil exploration in ANWR because under Senate rules it requires only 51 votes to pass and is not subject to a filibuster, which can only be overcome with 60 votes. The Senate is expected to vote on the budget resolution by Friday night. Stay tuned and pray for the caribou and others. (See slide show of caribou.)
Deep Thought: “I guess the hard thing for a lot of people to accept is why God would allow me to go running through their yards, yelling and spinning around.”
Today I am grateful for: Idealism
Guess the Movie: “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us! Answer: Malcolm X, 1992.
Winner: thenarrator.
Senate Votes to Open Alaskan Oil Drilling
by H Josef Hebert
WASHINGTON – Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day; 8:29 pm
+ = Highly entertaining baseball-steroids-hauled-before-Congress session – serious buttkicking and 5th amendment taking.
- = Ice cream
Comments (15)
One can only hope, huh? I wonder if we can ever undo the damage that we will do (and have done already.)
Feeling lousy this morning which sucks on St. Patrick’s Day. I keep pointing out that if we’d stuck with the energy policies Carter had in place in 1990 (as Europe did), we’d need not one drop of Saudi, Iraqi, or Iranian oil (the US and Canada are the only NATO nations to not be using less oil than in 1980 – in Canada use is up about 20%, in the US it’s 50%). And so, because Bush money is oil money, campaign money is oil money, because even though there’s probably not much oil up in the ANWR Bush and HalliCheney make their cash off drilling equipment, so that doesn’t matter, because (and this is an odd link) Alaska is desperate to preserve their incredibly Socialist government (“we all get money for doing nothing!”), we end up destroying this place.
Give up your H2? Never. Kill some wildlife, cause a millenium of damage? Why Not.
Malcolm X, no?
Malcolm X, yes! Find something funny for the holiday. I haven’t found mine yet, but then it’s only 6:03 a.m. out here. I am wearing green slacks to work, so there, you Irish people.
I hope the opposition puts up a grand fight on the budget resolution for this scandal in the ANWR.
It is SO UNBELIEVEABLE…I knew it was one of the first things that was going to happen…(the oil drilling in Alaska)How depressing….what kind of stupidity runs this world…..has it gotten worse or am I just noticing it more?
Wow, my Senator voted against lifting the ban… That surprises me. I got a letter back from my Reprsentative though that was pretty much a brush off, telling me “thank you for your concern, but i’m going to do the opposite anyway.”
You just reminded me of a post I had a while back on Alaska drilling. I have to re-post it today. !
and yes we are one of the only countries to still be in denial about global warming
Sorry you won’t be there but I’ll fill you in tomorrow. I think you’d like her writing.
I posted it. I don’t know who is running the show there in Washington, but they are starting to be more than a point of distraction. How many times is this stupid bill going to come up! I agree with thenarrator; Jimmy Carter refused to be sold out to the highest bidder, those who would keep us beholden to the rich fat cats. That’s why he wasn’t re-elected.
the ANWR is the last refuge…and after operations start there it will escalate the greenhouse effect and cause more disruption. Many who are environmentalists were against this and rightfully so. Only when the profits start to fade will they reverse course regardless of the damage…
I signed a petition on this issue-close vote, but seems that bush has the sway (?) Not only will it create more pollution, but isn’t bush also against clean-up to a certain extent? I hope this can be tabled for a good, long time-and perhaps we can still see this changed.
I still can’t figure out how our current president convinced everyone to vote for him… Or was it that Kerry was simply that poor of an option?
And now the feds are funding propaganda without letting folks know it is from the government feeding us what they want us to think.
Alaska is not the only place. The wells in western Wyoming are crowding the birds and animals terribly. Sage Grouse. elk and antelope. Whe wide open spaces are not wide any more and closing fast.
Isn’t it interesting that the reps from Alaska voted to allow drilling. I’m sure the political motivation is strong…to get the US to not be so dependent on middle east oil sources. If it goes through, it’ll be interestind to see how the priorty war in Iraq will be affected…and see how much of it is “about the oil” . Or not.
I think we should all just go solar. Make a vast network of private and public cells and transport it all over. But what about the battery acid from used up equipment? Hmm….
I’m reading a book called Salt which has so far been quite educational. In the ancient world people didn’t know how to acquire salt easily so it became a sought after commodity, becoming the first trade good in the ancient world. Wars were fought over the possession of salt and it wasn’t until the 20th century that humanity figured out how to simplify the acquisition of salt!
I think of energy in the same manner, we fight wars over oil, get rich over oil when all along there is FREE energy resources in the sun and the wind, not to mention hydrogen all can be used with out harmful side effects yet we destroy the environment to power gas guzzeling vehicals such as the Hummer. It’s all be done before, just wish we would stop it. I personaly viewed the demise of the Anwar region to be enevitable from the day Bush won a second term, sad but there is no other out come for the time being.