[at-l] > RELIGIOUS, SENATE LEADERS OPPOSE ANWR DRILLING

[yumitori@montana.com (Ron Martino)]

> I guess I would need to go and see this place to understand what
> makes it soooo special.  I'll admit a prejudice...there are no trees
> there and I understand, no mountains and little water, so since flat
> land gives me the heebiegeebs and I require the company of trees,
> this place sounds less than attractive (*aren't we all glad that I
> don't make these decisions<g>).
> Seriously..specifically.....what makes this place so special as to
> make it untouchable?

	There's tons of information available on-line on the ANWR. You 
might want to look at Alaska Wilderness League site, for example -

		http://www.alaskawild.org/

	Check out their sections under 'The Press Room'.

	And there's this news release, quoting scientists of the National 
Audubon Society (it's a pdf file, so you'll need Acrobat Reader or a 
similar program) -

http://www.alaskawild.org/releases/ArcticTruthArchives/Jan2002AT/ARCTIC_TRUTH1_14_02.pdf
 
> First, I didn't refer to efforts to stop the drilling as nutty.
> I said not to evaluate was nutty.  And putting my previously
> mentioned prejudice aside, the AT has a greater value because
> it is accessible to a greater number of people.  It is more useful
> in it's current state, at least for now.   I do not subscribe to the
> "wilderness for wilderness sake" theory.  I wish I could, I really
> really wish I could but it's a small small world and the idea that
> we can't touch any part of a 2 million acre hunk of public property
> that maybe .0001 percent of the public will ever see is a problem
> for me. 

	Ah. Well, for me, the value of something is not limited to what 
worth may be had from it by people. You might also want to consider the 
effects drilling will have on the First Nations peoples who rely upon the
caribou herds for their subsistence.

	Ron
-- 

yumitori(AT)montana(DOT)com