Politicizing the Environment

The new session is starting and there is a great piece by Laura Kiesel discussing the possibilities of important legislation being tied up because of back door schemes to drill in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower and has been a point of debate since the Reagan presidency. This is the only self sustaining eco-system left in America and deserves protection against oil companies that are recording record high profits.

Kiesel has an interesting piece exploring the complex politics surrounding a black and white issue. There is only 6 months of oil that will not be read for intrusive drilling for other 15 years. That means no relief from record oil prices and no impact at the pumps today or for the next generation.

There are real solutions. Go after the oil companies for price gouging, create power solvency with non-polluting alternatives like wind or solar, or at the very least, reduce our dependency at home by increasing the local, state, and national green taxes.

There are real solutions and Arctic Drilling is not one of them.