Letter: Alaskan refuge must be tapped

Friday, Aug. 10, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

The energy bill passed by the House permits drilling for oil/gas in the Alaskan wildlife preserve. Actually, whether we like it or not, there is really little choice if we want to retail a significant domestic supply of petroleum.

Production of oil and gas wells typically decreases by about 5 percent each year and it requires a minimum of five years to begin production after discovering a major new field. Therefore, by the time production can begin, domestic production will drop by about 25 percent.

Some new production will be found elsewhere, but to replace this quantity will require finding major new fields. There are only a few areas in the U.S. that have the potential of finding large fields: offshore California and Florida, deep waters in the gulf of Mexico and the Alaskan preserve.

R. L. HUXTABLE

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