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And in mid-March, it came to pass that the Senate voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. And the oil companies looked on this, and saw that it was good, for they knew that their friends in Congress and the White House would also approve of this action. And they smiled, for they also knew that grand profits were on the horizon, despite the suffering of all around them. Thus the mythology of the omnipotent energy conglomerates was born. |
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| Now, at last, we can have energy independence. OK, it may be a while until all that oil of ours is liberated, but then, by golly, it'll be a great day. OK, so at current rates of consumption (the U.S. uses a bit over 20 million barrels of oil per day), ANWR (which, by United States Geological Survey estimates contains about 4 billion barrels of oil) would keep us going for about 6 months, if we could have it all at once. Which of course we can't. The most optimistic (fanciful) estimates say ANWR has about 12 billion barrels of oil (roughly 18 months at current consumption rates). C'mon, there must be some silver lining in there, right?
Did you ever see the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"? Steve Martin plays a detective, who, during World War II, foils a Nazi plot to destroy all the cities in the United States with a "cheese bomb". After the plot is thwarted, the main Nazi, played by Carl Reiner, gasps with his dying breath "Well, at least I got Terre Haute". That's what this oil from ANWR reminds me of (a really stupid, destructive action), except not as funny. At least we can perpetuate our sprawl-based lifestyles for a few more months.
The appropriation of Alaskan wilderness, upon which many subsistence-lifestyle natives depend, is equivalent to trying to move a great weight (energy demands) with a lever whose fulcrum is very close to us. We're going through great tribulation (putting an end to the traditional lifestyle of a peaceful people just because we can) for not much gain (6 months of oil). It would be more fruitful to use the great weight to move ourselves into a position wherein we need less fossil fuel. Put another way, we're not going to get far by fooling with the supply end, because it is both finite and soon to be shrinking. We'd be much better off if we worked on the demand end (conservation). Strategically-speaking, ANWR does not represent energy salvation. It does represent a great revenue opportunity for the oil companies.
A few years ago, I saw Lenny Kohm, who is a freelance photographer, present a multimedia show on "the last great wilderness", the ANWR. This moving presentation helped illuminate the gravity of this situation, in part by introducing us to Robin Netro, a young man from Old Crow, a village of the Gwich'in Athabascan Indian community of northeast Alaska and northwest Canada. Mr. Netro was visibly uncomfortable speaking in front of a large gathering of strangers, making his words that much more poignant. Mr. Kohm and Mr. Netro asked us to preserve not only a wildlife refuge, but a way of life. Perhaps we still will realize that there is "value" beyond what can be extracted for money. Or perhaps we'll recognize the futility of trying to fight the power of the omnipotent energy conglomerates and give up. After all, there are huge profits to be made from the land of the natives and the caribou. So it is written.
