I’m not going to do a full explanation of everything here about ANWR and why I feel the way I do about it. Long story short I’ve always figured the area was big enough to handle the minimal impact the drilling rigs would have on the area and still support the wildlife.
Besides, the area in question is covered in permafrost and I’ve seen the Discovery channel episodes on how roads are built in that area. In short, you can’t build a road unless it’s the winter season. You just shave down the ice, roll your equipment over it, and get out before spring. The end result is there is no permanent impact on the landscape unless you purposely leaving something behind, like an oil rig. If you try and take any equipment through that mud it’s going to get stuck.
So, what would the end result be of leaving an a series of oil rigs dotted across a couple of million acres of land? I cannot say for sure, but I do have some first hand experience with the issue now.
See, there’s an oil rig about 20-30 yards off the property line of my backyard.
From what I can tell it’s pretty benign. The land on which it sits is still used for farming. The local fauna has no problem surviving right next to it, either. As far as local wildlife goes it doesn’t seem to scare them off much. I’ve seen bunnies in my back yard and Chuck Norris (my dog, not the actor/badass) has, on occasion, picked up on their scent/tracks and tried tearing off after them while I walk him around the back yard so he can answer the call of nature.
Seriously. We have fauna and wildlife doing just fine and dandy 3-5 freakin feet away from that rig. I can’t imagine that losing a few square feet (even a few hundred acres) out of the millions in ANWR would be much, if any, different. Almost zero impact.
The only thing I do notice is a slight odor coming from it at at times. I can’t smell it inside the house, but I can when I’m outside, the wind is blowing just right, and it’s actually pumping. That, and it squeaks.
Yeah, the oil rig needs to be oiled. I find that quite amusing.
So, drilling in ANWR is fine by me, and if anybody asks if I’d be OK with having an oil rig in my backyard I can honestly say it wouldn’t bother me. My only fear is that they’ll actually remove it some day. That could seriously muck up my well water, but that’s a story for another day I suppoose.
