Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ANWR

I haven't been hearing much about this of late but it may be that I've been just too busy with other things and listening to music (not news) on XM. But I recall some of the debate about whether we should open up this Alaskan wilderness area to oil exploration and drilling. I tended to lean toward letting it happen since it was unlikely most americans would even get to see it and we somehow needed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. As gas hovers once again over $2.60 per gallon I still feel strongly about the last part but am having second thoughts about what we should do in this area in the northeast of Alaska.

I've heard about the vast amounts of oil in the arctic. Two responses: I read (and I know you can't always believe what you read but you have to start somewhere) that the oil pipeline we built back in the 1970s to pump Prudhoe Bay oil to the other side of Alaska is running at 50% capacity. I don't know why. Item #2 - experts estimate that the amount of oil in ANWR is somewhere between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels. That sounds like a lot of oil to me but translated to usage - less than 2 years of U.S. oil consumption. And the difference it would make in the price of gas at the pump? 1 cent per gallon less.

So for me, I'll gladly bear the extra penny at the pump to keep this 19 million acres available for the Dall sheep, grizzlies and other assorted critters that call this place home.