A Message From the Folks Who Live There

“It’s About Jobs”:
Ice Road Trucker & Fellow Alaskans Testify on Need to Unlock American Energy in Alaska

Posted [on SotH website] by Katie Boyd on September 21, 2011

Opening up resource-rich areas of Alaska to new energy exploration and production will create jobs, ensure the continued flow of energy to the lower 48 states, and promote America’s energy security. That was the message shared by Alaskans today at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the government’s refusal to unlock more American energy production in that state. Boosting American energy production to address high gas prices and help create jobs has been a key plank of the GOP’s plan for jobs and the focus of our American Energy Initiative. Here are some of the highlights from today’s hearing:

“Development of ANWR Would in Turn Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs.” Fenton Okomailak Rexford, Tribal Administrator for the Native Village of Kaktovik and a member of the Kaktovik City Council: “[D]evelopment of ANWR would result in thousands of new contracts, all across the U.S., for materials and services. … The additional expenditures related to development of ANWR would in turn create tens of thousands of jobs, many of which could put unemployed Americans back to work in manufacturing facilities, the construction business, and other industries.” (Testimony, 9/21/11)

“Inaction Trumps Common Sense and Legitimate Need” for Jobs. Tim Sharp, Business Manager of the Alaska District Council of Laborers: “We seem to be caught up in contemplating our navel on process, permitting and politics at a time when it is obvious to most that we have oil in Alaska, development would generate thousands of needed jobs, and the leverage and impact the foreign producers could have on us would lessen. Instead, inaction trumps common sense and legitimate need. … I am addressing today the need for political action to offset our dwindling energy reserves in the next five to ten years but equally important the need for jobs today. ” (Testimony, 9/21/11)

It Will Make For Some Cheap Gasoline, Too

Oil trade groups: Drilling deregulation could create 190,000 jobs

Published: 12:04 AM 07/12/2011
Updated: 2:34 AM 07/12/2011

Almost 190,000 jobs could be created by 2013 if offshore drilling returns to pre-spill levels, according to a study sponsored by two oil trade groups, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The study, conducted by Quest Offshore Inc., found that if permits for exploration and drilling returned to historic levels, and if backlogged requests were granted, 400,000 jobs could be supported across the United States with a GDP increase of $45 billion by 2013.

“The president says he wants ideas for putting Americans back to work right now,” said Jack Gerard, API president, during a conference call today. “So we urge him, again, to take a look at policies that will encourage oil, and domestic gas development.”

BigBambu and Co up in de Massa's house don't want American oil going into American companies. Where's the fun in that? Their idea of maximum fun is to make every American as bad off as, say, a resident of a suburb of Mexico City. They want us BROKE Folks. How else do you explain it? If he's so effing smot (ess em oh tee smot), why is it that he keeps promoting policies that will take us all down the rabbit hole?

He's not smot: he's clever, devious, pernicious, insidious and evil and he has the best interests of NO ONE EXCEPT HISOWNSELF.

Read more:

The Reality Is, We Need Oil

The Reality Is, We Need Oil

If Democrats are left to their desires, America will soon resemble Spain. Its government forced green jobs onto the economy and the result was for every one green job created, the private sector lost two. Spain’s green industry caused energy prices to skyrocket and businesses found it too expensive to produce. The added costs were passed to the consumer and the economy naturally contracted. The result is an unemployment rate at 20 percent and political paralysis

and unless someone re-invents impulse drive, we will continue to need it.

Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill

Heritage Morning Bell
Obama's Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America

Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration's job-killing agenda. As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy -- a direct result of President Barack Obama's anti-energy policies.Stilley's company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production -- a consequence of Obama's drilling moratorium and subsequent "permitorium" -- led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he's speaking out, sharing Seahawk's story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research. (Click to watch.)

It's an unfortunate example of how policies in Washington are harming American jobs and also squelching energy production at a time when consumers are paying $4-per-gallon for gasoline.Fortunately, not everyone in the nation's capital is content with higher prices and fewer jobs. Today the U.S. House considers the first of several bills that directly addresses energy and jobs. Lawmakers will vote today on legislation that requires the Obama administration to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and in the waters offshore Virginia.

It's a welcome change from the anti-drilling policies first imposed by the Obama administration one year ago. On May 6, 2010, the first moratorium on Gulf drilling took effect, followed by a longer ban that lasted until October. But even after it was lifted, few deepwater permits have been issued.

The long-term implications are disastrous for America. That prompted House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) to pursue a remedy through legislation. Today's vote would ensure that companies continue energy development by requiring lease sales. Two other bills would speed up the permitting process and craft a long-term plan for offshore lease sales."What we're proposing is to lower gas prices, create American jobs, which ironically will help drive up government revenues, and ultimately, in the wake of all the turmoil we've seen in the world, create an environment in which we are energy independent or on a path to energy independence," Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) explained yesterday.

Even without the president's signature, the legislation has already had a positive impact. After it passed in committee, the Obama administration promised to hold one lease sale in 2011. (Ever since 1958, there has been at least one lease sale every year.) But while one lease sale is better than none, Hastings isn’t satisfied. He wants the Obama administration to hold four lease sales before June 2012 -- including one off the coast of Virginia.

Aside from creating new jobs and discovering new sources of energy, the lease sales contribute a substantial sum of revenue for the federal treasury. In 2008, the offshore industry paid $9.4 billion for bids on new leases. Last year, that figure dropped to $979 million in lease bids.

The drop in revenue is a reflection of the Obama administration's anti-energy policies. And lease sales are only part of the equation. According to the government's own Energy Information Administration, production in the Gulf of Mexico will drop by 190,000 barrels per day. That means less money from royalty payments on offshore rigs as well.

Faced with mounting criticism, the Obama administration has defended its policies as a safety precaution following last year's oil spill. But one year later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is issuing drilling permits at such a slow pace that it's hard to swallow the explanation.

At the same time, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are seeking new ways to penalize energy businesses. As Curtis Dubay and Nick Loris write on The Foundry, a proposal from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) would significantly increase taxes paid by U.S. oil and gas companies competing abroad -- exactly the wrong approach with gas prices on the rise.

Meanwhile, job creators like Leslie Bertucci and Randall Stilley continue to bear the brunt of the Obama administration's misguided policies. Bertucci, who told us last month about her company's struggle to survive, has dipped into personal savings to avoid layoffs.

Stilley didn't have that option at Seahawk. And he's not optimistic about what the future holds under this administration."As an American," he told us, "you never want to look at your own government and say they’re hurting you personally, they're hurting your business and they're doing it in a way that's irresponsible. I'm not very proud of our government right now and the way they handled this."

Unfortunately, thats exactly what this administration is doing.

Oil Jobs in Virginia On the Line

H.R. 1230—Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act

FLOOR SITUATION

On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, under a rule. A summary of the rule, and any amendments made in order under the rule will be distributed when it becomes available.

H.R. 1230 was introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) on March 29, 2011, and was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. On April 13, 2011, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a markup of H.R. 1230 and ordered the bill to be reported by a vote of 29-14.

Summary

H.R. 1230 would require the Department of the Interior (DOI) to auction offshore oil and gas leases in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, as well as in an area off the coast of Virginia. Specifically, H.R. 1230 would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales as follows:
1. Lease sale 216 in the Central Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than four months after enactment of the Act;
2. Lease sale 218 in the Western Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than eight months after enactment of the Act;
3. Lease sale 220 on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore of Virginia “as soon as practicable,” and no later than one year after enactment of the Act; and
4. Lease sale 222 in the Central Gulf of Mexico “as soon as practicable,” and no later than June 1, 2012.
The bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from making any tract available for leasing if the President, through the Secretary of Defense, determines that drilling activity on the tract would create an unreasonable conflict with military operations.

H.R. 1230 would state that, for purposes of lease sales, the Environmental Impact Statement for the 2007-2015 five-year OCS Plan and the Multi-Sale Environmental Impact Statement satisfies the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

The bill would define “Environmental Impact Statement for the 2007-2015 five-year OCS Plan” as the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2007-2010 (April 2007), prepared by the Secretary of the Interior.

The bill would also define “Multi-State Environmental Impact Statement” as the Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218, and Proposed Central Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 205, 206, 208, 213, 216, and 222 (September 2008), prepared by the Secretary of the Interior.

BACkground
According to House Report 112-068, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) provides a system for offshore oil and natural gas exploration, leasing, and development in federal waters. The federal government develops five-year plans to determine where and when offshore leasing and energy production will occur.
The current five-year plan (2007-2012) included a lease sale off the Virginia coast in 2011 (#220), two Gulf of Mexico lease sales (#216 and #218) in 2011, and another Gulf of Mexico lease sale (#222) to have taken place in 2012. All of these sales have been either canceled or delayed by the Obama administration, threatening to make 2011 the first year without any lease sales in the OCS since 1958. As a result, the President's budget predicts that OCS revenues from bonus bids and rents will be only $150 million, approximately 1.5 percent of the $9.85 billion in revenue generated by OCS sales in FY 2008. This loss of billions in revenue will have a real impact on the federal budget and delay America’s domestic energy production.
In 2008, the Congress and the President lifted the decades-long ban on offshore drilling. This opened an additional 500 million acres to offshore drilling--including areas off the Atlantic coast. Lifting the ban allowed the scheduled Virginia lease sale in 2011 to proceed. However, in 2010 the Secretary of the Interior delayed the Virginia lease sale until 2012 and announced that areas off the Atlantic coast would not be available for leasing and energy development in the next five-year plan (2012-2017). In 2010, the Secretary of the Interior also canceled two scheduled Gulf of Mexico lease sales from 2011 until 2012. H.R. 1230 will reverse the administration's delays by validating the existing completed Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), prepared for these lease sales under the National Environmental Policy Act, ensuring these lease sales move forward in a prompt, timely and safe manner. H.R. 1230 expands American energy production, creates jobs and generates revenue for taxpayers.
It is important to note that the EIS work for the Gulf lease sales is complete, thorough, and sufficient to safely and responsibly conduct lease sales. The EIS for the Virginia lease sale is to be completed within one year. Furthermore, each lease undergoes an environmental assessment along with additional environmental reviews of the submitted Exploration Plan. In totality, before an oil and natural gas project on a lease in federal waters takes place, there will be at least four separate environmental reviews to determine the overall environmental effects of development down to the site-specific review of impacts. The EIS for the Virginia lease sale is to be completed within one year.
Cost

According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates, enacting H.R. 1230 would affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would reduce net direct spending by $25 million over the 2011-2016 period and about $40 million over the 2011-2021 period. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.

In addition, CBO estimates that DOI would spend about $2 million to implement the legislation (completing environmental assessments, etc.), assuming the availability of appropriated funds.

Staff Contact

For questions or further information contact Sarah Makin at 6-2302.

EPA Hurting Jobs in Virginia

EPA'S REGULATORY TRAIN WRECK
TELL CONGRESS TO STOP THE EPA FROM KILLING APPALACHIAN JOBS

WE NEED YOU TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

The House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is scheduled to hold a hearing this week on the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory assault on America's mining industry.

Click here to urge your representatives to support reasonable mining policies and demand EPA end its assault on America's coal industry.

EPA cannot be allowed to dictate its own environmental policies without the oversight and approval of our elected representatives in Congress. Thousands of high-paying jobs are in jeopardy; tax revenues that sustain schools and vital services are being threatened; and the coal that provides reliable and affordable electricity is at risk.

Contact your Member of Congress today and make your voice heard!

The focus of Thursday's hearing, "EPA's Mining Policies: Assault on Appalachian Jobs - Part 1," will be on EPA's conductivity surface mining guidance and other regulatory assaults under the Clean Water Act, which could effectively impose a moratorium on new mining permits in Appalachia.

If we work together and speak in one voice, we will end EPA's attack on the coal industry and ensure that our nation continues to benefit from America's abundant supply of coal and other vital minerals for years to come.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

Its Time For An Executive Order

H/T FreeRepublic and HokieMom

Governor Bob McDonnell should write the EO for offshore exploration and have it published. Let the citizens of the Commonwealth vote on whether it stays or not. Put it up for a statewide vote, instead of letting the Democrat controlled Senate shoot it down.

This is ridiculous. The dumbos in the VA Senate have voted down the Offshore Exploration bill with the same old tired argument they were using 10 years ago.."It will take 10 years to see any benefit."

Well guess what, dumbotwits, if we had started 10 years ago, we'd now be seeing benefits, when we need them the most.

Are these knuckleheads on the OPEC payroll?

Is Arab money being funneled through enviro-nazi groups and into the hands of politicians?

Do they want independence from foreign oil or not? Do they really care about the average Virginia worker? We are the ones who would benefit immediately from the creation of jobs. If they are so stupid they can't see the relationship between energy exploration and job creation, they are to stupid to be serving as representatives of the citizens of this Commonwealth.

Podcasts You Should Hear

Jimmy Barrett talks to John Felmy from American Petroleum Institute about offshore drilling.


Then he talks to Leighton Steward about CO2.

End the Corporate Tax in Virginia

We'll get by without it, if handled correctly.

Governor-elect McDonnell has already indicated a willingness to explore the energy reserves off the Virginia coast.

The extraction of energy from Virginias' reserves could potentially put us in the same position as Alaska.

Governor elect McDonnell should persue this option with the same energy and determination as he demonstrated during his campiagn.

This is a states' rights issue and the federal government has no business telling any state how to handle their natural resources.

Why the Left Hates Sarah Palin (and the country needs her)

(and I will work to help her do whatever she wants to do, whenever she wants to do it.)

By Dewie Whetsell
Alaskan Fisherman.
(As posted in the comments section on Greta Susteren's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.)

The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" ( CBC ) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la"( well, you know how they are ). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon ( the biggest corporation in theworld ) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over"stack. She let locals know that if we need something built,we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning - I imagine -that she's packing heat herself ). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started...This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives.

So "You go, Girl."

I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals. I rest my case.

Only FOOLS listen to the biased media. [Now we know why Lou Dobbs quit CNN]

American Resources Review

We can't stop using coal. But we should use every flammable substance we have to generate power.


Millions of Jobs would be Exported

National Mining Association President and CEO, Hal Quinn, contributed to a recent forum on National Journal’s “Energy and Environment” experts blog:
We do not believe that the public interest is well served by policies that approach
our energy future as a zero-sum game.

Public policies encouraging the replacement of coal based electricity generation with natural gas are the bridge for accelerating the export of our manufacturing base and, with it, millions of high-wage jobs.

Look no further than actual experience over the past decade. As the use of natural gas increased for generating electricity, our manufacturing sector paid substantially higher prices for electricity (56 percent) and natural gas (200 percent).

In a report released last year, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) warned that “policies that encourage the use of natural gas to substitute for coal in power generation could very well lead to spectacular price increases for households and industry.”

Solar Powered Chain Saws

Solar-powered chain saws??? Preventing fire roads from being used??? Have people lost their minds? Oh wait, YES!!!


David Freddoso: Big green machine feeds off you
By: David Freddoso Commentary Staff Writer
October 1, 2009

Lawmakers have made it abundantly clear to bailed-out banks and automakers that federal money comes with strings attached. New rules on executive compensation are only the tip of the iceberg for TARP-funded banks. For bailed out automakers, Congress has inserted itself into decisions about plant closings and dealerships. The President of the United States even fired GM's CEO.

But environmental groups face few such restrictions, which is how they can victimize
the taxpayer two- or even three-fold. They freely sue dozens of federal government agencies even as they take federal money. Sometimes they take the money and spend equivalent amounts lobbying Congress to restrict consumers' freedom. Some of them even pay their executives large six-figure salaries.

The taxpayer finds himself in triple jeopardy. He funds these groups with grants and contracts, he can be on the hook for both sides' legal costs, and he risks the loss of freedoms to new laws and lawsuits -- his property rights, and his ability to buy affordable appliances, or even his livelihood.

Defenders of Wildlife, whose president makes more than $300,000 a year, has taken about $190,000 in federal grants since 2004. They are now suing the government to
protect aggressive wolves that were recently introduced into the Mountain West and have since ravaged game and impoverished shepherds and ranchers. The group also spent nearly $150,000 in the first half of 2009 lobbying Congress -- among other things, to fight against a law allowing for wolf control. They have also received more than $80,000 in web development work since 2006 from the Agriculture and Interior Departments.

Not all of the groups cause so much damage with your money, but they take it anyway. The Nature Conservancy (CEO compensation: $349,000), best known for purchasing land to prevent its development, is a billion-dollar organization. That hasn't stopped it from taking $14.4 million in grants from the Department of the Interior and received $50 million in federal contracts.

The more radical Forest Guardians are true green believers who certainly do not overpay themselves - their top employee makes only $46,000 per year. During the western forest fires of 2002, they steadfastly opposed the reopening of fire roads and the thinning of at-risk forests unless "solar powered chainsaws" were used. Even a small group like this can find itself a piece of the pie. Government grants accounted for 10 percent of their revenues in 2006, according to the IRS.

And just this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has put a leg aboard the federal gravy train. The famous public interest group, whose president made a modest $433,000 in 2007, has received a $750,000 government grant from the State Department to encourage the Chinese to use less energy. In addition to suing at least seven government agencies, including recently the Navy, the group also spent more than $400,000 in the first six months of 2009 lobbying Congress to require higher efficiency standards - and thus higher prices - for all appliances.

There's nothing wrong with a gadfly - someone has to hold government accountable. But should you be forced to pay for it, especially when it comes from an ideology
that could hurt your livelihood or even your life?

Gadflies might be parasites in nature, but the human ones don't usually double as leeches.

David Freddoso is a Commentary staff writer who can be reached at dfreddoso@washingtonexaminer.com

Sarah Palin Will Pick Her Battles

and she will win.

American Thinker: Sarah Palin: A Leader Without A Party

Here's an excerpt from Williamson's essay:

The truth is: Sarah Palin is not really a "politician". She did not get into politics to seek power or wealth. She bears no resemblance to the typical politician, who graduated in Law specifically to enter politics; or to the successful businessman who runs for office to gain profit advantage or status; or to the mediocrities who rises through nepotism or dynastic ambition like a Kennedy or a Gore. Or to any party hack out of the Chicago machine.

She has not brought herself into this fight at this point because she wants to be President...or Vice-President...or Senator....or Cabinet member. She is in this solely because she feels, deeply, that our traditional principles and values, already betrayed by both parties, are in serious jeopardy through the aggressive efforts of committed socialists. She is prepared to make a personal sacrifice in the cause of defeating them. If she succeeds, she'll be happy to just go back to Wasilla and the Alaskan way of middle class life she loves.

Remember, she made it clear in her resignation that she was going to remain outside" the political fences. For she is going to turn her guns on the GOP -- big time. She wants nothing to do with the Republican National Committee, and not just because
she has been reading Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny. She has fought the GOP top dogs since her first days in Wasilla.

When she was appointed by the Governor to chair the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission and found out the Republicans were dealing under the counter with the private companies, she resigned and blew the whistle.

When her party wouldn't support her for Governor she ran on her own -- against their open opposition -- and won. And promptly attacked waste and corruption within the Republican state government.

Then she was drafted by McCain, sparking some indignation in the RNC. She promptly charged the flailing campaign with her energy and her personality, attracting huge numbers of people to GOP rallies, and most likely some new voters. But she got no support from the sclerotic RNC managers -- and the great fighter pilot couldn't shoot straight. Then he bailed out on her after the election, and she received no thanks for her valiant effort; not only was she simply dumped, but reviled and mocked by the insiders and elitists she had worked with.

Take The Poll Tell 'Em What You Think

Senator Jim Inhofe has a one question poll he'd like you to respond to.

The link is here.

I'm Not Going To Defend Ted Stevens

He is accused of having lied on a federal form and if he did, he needs to suffer the consequences, just like any of us; but this is the best example of the government creating conditions which restrict citizens from creating wealth and improving their own lives.

Alaska is the richest state in natural resources, (gold, oil, natural gas) and has the lowest population per square mile of any of the 50 states. I doubt that 1 in 10 residents are actually from Alsaka originally. I could be wrong, I'm doing this on the fly with no research, except watching the History Channel (Ice Road Truckers, etc)

The resources are hard to get to and the government has imposed environmental regulations which restrict the exploitation of these resources.

Had the government not imposed these regulations, the citizens of Alaska could be enjoying the benefits of jobs working the oil fields, pipelines and drill rigs, in addition to the support stucture, which require people to fill them, (you have to WANT to work in Alaska,) which increases the tax base, which fills the state tax coffers, which reduces the amount of money the federal government has to send back for improvements, which would have eliminated the need for Senator Stevens to make all those backroom deals, which would have negated the necessity of lying on a federal form.

Open ANWR, let the people of Alaska go to work supplying us with much needed domestic oil, which will decrease our imports of foreign oil. Its a win/win situation.

Will it happen? I don't know, but it sure needs to happen. Sooner than later.