Letter: Arctic drilling: Huge price to pay

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Kenneth Hovey's Aug. 22 letter, "America needs Alaska drilling," supports the destruction of an irreplaceable wildlife sanctuary for a short-sighted energy policy that doesn't even come close to solving our energy problems.

Just because millions of Americans are not going to trample over the Arctic, he claims it has no value. I think the polar bears, wolves, musk oxen, caribou, and 180 species of birds that live or migrate there would argue that this region is not a "... barren corner of Alaska ... ." They can't just pick up and move as easily as you or I can when their habitat is adversely affected.

Currently, 95 percent of the vast North Slope and Arctic coastline is open for oil and gas exploration and development. This leaves only 5 percent left protected from drilling.

A wildlife refuge is not a place to drill for oil. Is there no place left that is worth protecting for the future? Not, apparently, to Hovey.

The United States contains only 2.8 percent of the world's total proven oil reserves, which include recoverable and unrecoverable oil. OPEC countries contain 78 percent of the world reserves. What does Hovey think OPEC would do to keep prices up if we increased production using the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

So don't fool yourself. Arctic drilling wouldn't even make a dent.

Drilling would, however, put over 200 species of animals at risk. For what?

MARK SCHAFFER