The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/17/05 Section: Commentary

While there certainly are advantages to drilling in Alaska as cited by Mr. Casapulla's opinion article "Alaskan Drilling Not So Bad" (2/16/05) I fear that his view is too short sighted. The numbers sited for the amount of oil under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by ConnPIRG are those of the U.S. Geologic Survey, the government agency in charge of analyzing our oil supplies. These numbers say the Arctic Refuge will supply the United States with six months of oil. Additionally, it will take 10 years to develop the Refuge and begin extracting the oil that lies beneath. It seems crazy to destroy one of the last pristine areas left on the planet for six months of oil 10 years down the road. Instead of addressing our energy issues by chasing the last of our planet's oil supplies, we should focus our attention and resources on researching and funding renewable energy sources, at which point we will be able to truly declare our energy independence.


-Mark Lemon

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