Band-Aids

Proponents of drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge achieved a huge victory today. What I'm struck by is that proponents don't seem to realize the irony in their position. They say we need to drill in ANWR because we need to reduce our dependance on foreign oil supplies. By all accounts, we won't be recieving any of the oil produced from drilling in ANWR for upwards of 10 years. This is regardless of the fact that we do not possess the technology to obtain the oil in ANWR at a rate that will have any affect on our domestic oil consumption. Sure, there are a gazillion barrels of oil in ANWR, we just can't get at them. But the real irony is that proponents are willing to put a band-aid on the foreign oil dependance problem, rather than to tackle the real issue of energy conservation.

The only way to reduce our dependance on foreign oil supplies is to begin conserving energy, to support measures that utilize renewable energy sources and for God's sake stop driving around in gigantic monsters of automobilies that get 10 miles per gallon!

Also, my crazy tree hugger alter-ego also laughs at the assurances that drilling in ANWR will have no affect on wildlife and habitats. But, thats just the cynic in me.