Walter J. Hickel
Governor of Alaska
Americans need jobs, hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Faced with a $3.6 trillion federal debt that threatens to tax the next generation to its knees, America can no longer afford to use public money to manufacture work.
We must get serious about creating jobs in the private sector.
ANWR AND JOBS
Fortunately, hundreds of thousands of new private sector jobs could be created by a single vote in Congress--jobs in manufacturing, services, and construction in every state in the union.
The source of these jobs is a small section of the Arctic Coastal Plain, just east of Prudhoe Bay, called the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Within this area lies a series of sedimentary basins that may contain vast oil reserves. If the nation's top geologists are right and America's workers are permitted to explore, they may discover an ocean of oil--on American soil.
Such a discovery would put thousands of Americans to work--about 16,000 in Alaska but, more important, 735,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout the nation. That's the estimate of the WEFA Group, econometrics consultants in Pennsylvania.
All those jobs won't happen immediately. But if Congress acts now, this work will come on line as our national defense industries scale back and our military personnel return to private life.
SUPPORT IN ALASKA
Although opening the Arctic Coastal Plain is controversial nationally, it enjoys almost unanimous support in the Alaska legislature from Democrats, Republicans, liberals, and conservatives.
All Alaskans consider themselves environmentalists. That's why we live here, The glory of this great land feeds our souls, whether we come from native Alaskan traditions or pioneer stock.
But we understand that the color of the environment is not just green. It is real. A person who is cold, hungry, or unemployed is in an ugly environment no matter how beautiful the surroundings.
And that's as true in Michigan or California as it is in northern Alaska. That's why we must care for the total environment--people, people's needs, and nature. If we don't find responsible ways to care for people, the beauties of nature will become victims of a struggle for survival.
The organizers of the Earth Summit in Brazil this June initially made that mistake. The Third World threatened to boycott the meeting unless the name was changed to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development.
Jobs are the issue of the day in America, too.
Currently, America spends $60 billion/year overseas to buy oil. In so doing, we give away jobs to Venezuelans, Saudis, Nigerians, and soon, once again, Iraqis. Many of those jobs could belong to Americans.
Unfortunately, some members of Congress seem hesitant to help our own working people.
Special interest groups have bludgeoned and bullied Congress in the name of conservation. They blatantly threaten to use their nonprofit groups to mobilize public opinion against any congressman who stands up for opening ANWR.
ENVIRONMENTAL MYTHS
The most disappointing aspect of this debate is the false information being broadcast by well-meaning zealots who oppose any human activity on the Coastal Plain. Do they believe their cause is so just they are above the truth?
Consider the outrageous claim that the Coastal Plain of ANWR is the last untouched, pristine wilderness in Alaska.
Hogwash.
More than 90% of Alaska is wilderness--90% of an area one-fifth the size of the continental U.S. And most of this wilderness acreage is protected by federal or state law.
In a state more than twice the size of Texas, the "footprint" of oil activity in ANWR will be smaller than Dulles International Airport in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.--7,000 acres.
Some say Alaska's caribou herds will be destroyed if oil is developed.
Don't believe it.
There are more caribou in Alaska than there are people, and the caribou population at Prudhoe Bay has multiplied several times since oil development began.
The Inupiat Eskimos who live on the Coastal Plain support ANWR oil development.
They have lived with it for 20 years and appreciate the benefits it brings, especially health care and education. At the same time, they have played an important role in establishing procedures to protect both their culture and the wildlife on which it depends.
They understand what the world must learn: Nature and man's needs can live in harmony.
That is the message that needs to be heard by Americans from coast to coast who are desperately looking for work.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
