House backs oil drilling in Alaskan refuge

[Capitalist Pig]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...Y-CONGRESS.xml

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday approved opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. The House approved the measure when it voted 308-106 in favor of a defense spending bill that contained the ANWR drilling language. Giving oil companies access to the refuge's possible 10 billion barrels of crude oil is a key part of the Bush administration's national energy plan to increase U.S. petroleum supplies and cut America's oil imports. Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, noted that majorities in the House and Senate have voted in favor of ANWR drilling only to be "frustrated" by minority-party Democrats who used procedural tactics to block Senate passage. The initiative is expected to be debated by the Senate this week, where it is likely to face stiff opposition from pro-environmental Democrats and possibly some moderate Republicans.

[Apeman81]

Quote by: Capitalist Pig http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...Y-CONGRESS.xml

Time to start reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

[Chris]

Quote by: Apeman81 Time to start reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Yeah by not driving around in FAT ASS SUVs and making more fuel efficeint or alternative fueled vehicles.

[Apeman81]

Quote by: |Chris| Yeah by not driving around in FAT ASS SUVs and making more fuel efficeint or alternative fueled vehicles.

I thought we were free to make our own economic decisions? Are you ready to have government tell us what we may an may not dirve?
You go your way, I'll go mine.

[pubmanager]

Quote by: Apeman81 I thought we were free to make our own economic decisions? Are you ready to have government tell us what we may an may not dirve? You go your way, I'll go mine.

Another shining example of the social conscience of the American public in action.

YOU ARE KILLING MY PLANET

[Apeman81]

Isn't it our planet?

[Birdzeye]

Quote by: Apeman81 I thought we were free to make our own economic decisions? Are you ready to have government tell us what we may an may not dirve? You go your way, I'll go mine.

I thought Chris was suggesting what individuals and corporations could do and wasn't making any suggestions about government mandates.

[Chris]

Quote by: Apeman81 I thought we were free to make our own economic decisions? Are you ready to have government tell us what we may an may not dirve? You go your way, I'll go mine.

Who said wanted gov to tell us? I was talking about personal choice. Lets all try and pull our weight becoming less dependant on foreign oil. Lets all try and get America to stop using 1/4 of the worlds OIL supply.

[Chris]

Quote by: Apeman81 Isn't it our planet?

yeah and people who share your attitude are shitting away our planet. Nice huh?

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: |Chris| Yeah by not driving around in FAT ASS SUVs and making more fuel efficeint or alternative fueled vehicles.

Well good to see followers of Nader are still around. :rolleyes:

Basically, what is best for the future? Will drilling on a wildlife refuge hurt us in ten years from now? Maybe, there are pro's and con's, something I am not to interested in debating with right now.

However, ethically, I am against this. My ethics say that the whole reason we are even doing this is for the betterment of ourselves, however, if we look and see that we are destroying parts of nature that are extremely important to our survival, then we are not ethically fulfilling our intentions. An example of this would be rainforest tree cutting. When rainforest trees are cut down for use of farm land for the betterment of the people of the poor countries, the abundence of resources found in the rain forest are wasted, and not being able to use it for the betterment of our society.

Now, in the case of going to drill for oil on this preserve, I don't know what the effects are, but going to find oil for the betterment of the here and now, but destroying something useful in the future as well, does not seem very ethical too me.

Hint: There are other ways of getting fuel without as much damage on the evironment.

[Jimmy the Pro]

oh and by the way Chris, I'm sure you always have the planet's best in mind, and that you do everything possible to save the earth.

Good for you!

[Chris]

Quote by: ldmaniac However, ethically, I am against this. My ethics say that the whole reason we are even doing this is for the betterment of ourselves, however, if we look and see that we are destroying parts of nature that are extremely important to our survival, then we are not ethically fulfilling our intentions. An example of this would be rainforest tree cutting. When rainforest trees are cut down for use of farm land for the betterment of the people of the poor countries, the abundence of resources found in the rain forest are wasted, and not being able to use it for the betterment of our society. Now, in the case of going to drill for oil on this preserve, I don't know what the effects are, but going to find oil for the betterment of the here and now, but destroying something useful in the future as well, does not seem very ethical too me. Hint: There are other ways of getting fuel without as much damage on the evironment.

I agree, and also am quite offended by SUVs and large trucks. I realize the American economy depends on trucks using 100 year old technology whereby only 1/3 of the energy from the fuel that they put in is contributing to chucking them down the road, the other 2/3 being lost to heat and just being wasted in flame.

Lets bring the new tech in. America is so dependant on oil that if there was a shortage (i.e hurricane Katrina) for a small amount of time we are on our knees. People who drive alone in SUV's to Target to get a bar of soap are the most offensive people on the planet.

Quote by: ldmaniac oh and by the way Chris, I'm sure you always have the planet's best in mind, and that you do everything possible to save the earth. Good for you!

Hope you werent being sarcastic. But I do drive a fuel efficent car. I have to drive a car because I don't live in Boston anymore. I have to drive a car because there is no decent public transport here and also I would get hit if I rode a bike. If I am walking people look at me like I am a freak. No where to walk. Different situation in Boston. Anyways I would buy a hybrid if I could afford it but cannot right now. My next car will be one though.

Americans throw away so much trash its disgusting. People throwing food away etc. My simple actions are probably offset by a 1000 to 1 ratio of ignorant idiots here who litter and also waste gas just because they can. And also cause its "cool" peeling out in stupid ass muscle cars and big ass offensive trucks.

[Birdzeye]

So what's the point in setting aside national parks and wildlife refuges if someone can later say, ooops, we really need that area for something else?

The petrochemical industry has a less-than-impressive record for protecting the environment. Does anybody seriously believe that they won't trash ANWR if they go in there?

[Spence]

who cares about anwr? screw the stupid animals, if there in the way of my oil drill through them!
and while your at it kill me some cows im hungery

[jbarn19]

Quote by: |Chris| Yeah by not driving around in FAT ASS SUVs and making more fuel efficeint or alternative fueled vehicles.

You take on the world and let us know how it goes.

Don't take it out on the world just because you ride your bike everyday to the cyber cafe.

I drive 2 SUVs, and will drive them until my freedom is stripped from my cold dead fingers. I will not lower the safety of my family in a tiny tin car for the likes of tree huggers.

DRILL THAT OIL!!!!

[Pooeypants]

It is ironic that your pollution will eventually lead to the premature demise of your descendents and that of many others.

[Birdzeye]

I drive 2 SUVs, and will drive them until my freedom is stripped from my cold dead fingers. I will not lower the safety of my family in a tiny tin car for the likes of tree huggers.

You can still drive an SUV and be environmentally conscious. There are a few SUV hybrids on the market: Ford Escape, Toyota Highlander, and Lexus RX400H.

And what makes you think SUVs are necessarily safer? Having AWD is a great feature in winter weather, but they are often at higher risk for rollover.

But if what you REALLY want to do is piss off the "tree huggers," well, what can I say.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: |Chris| Who said wanted gov to tell us? I was talking about personal choice. Lets all try and pull our weight becoming less dependant on foreign oil. Lets all try and get America to stop using 1/4 of the worlds OIL supply.

For every one of you who trys to conserve gas, I'm going to waste that amount plus 30%.

Why?

Because I can afford it and I don't really give a crap.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Birdzeye So what's the point in setting aside national parks and wildlife refuges if someone can later say, ooops, we really need that area for something else?

The point is that we wouldn't have set it aside if we know there was oil in it back then.

The petrochemical industry has a less-than-impressive record for protecting the environment. Does anybody seriously believe that they won't trash ANWR if they go in there?

Trash what? There is nothing in ANWR. The place already is a worthless tundra. I hope they do trash it. At least we'll get some oil out of it.

Sheez.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Pooeypants It is ironic that your pollution will eventually lead to the premature demise of your descendents and that of many others.

The most it will lead to is an effort to make atmosphere cleaning technology simply because people demand to have their SUVs and a clean evironment rather than just conserving themselves all the damn time.