Hooray, drilling in ANWR has been killed.   The polar bears are safe, right?   Abso-^%$&*&^-lutely wrong!

The picture at the right appeared in an article in the children's school publication "Weekly Reader" which began, "The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska is home to polar bears, grizzly bears, and moose.   Musk oxen, wolves, and wolverines live there, too.   So do millions of migratory birds. You can even find more than 100,000 caribou there."

My guess is that most kids believed this BS and their parents probably did too.   Most likely the parents and even their kids' teachers know nothing more about ANWR than this report gave them.

The truth is the area for drilling is a tiny speck of the total 19 million acres (larger than the state of Delaware) which make up ANWR.   With modern drilling technology what it is, what we are afraid to do is build a medium sized parking lot in the middle of Delaware because there is wildlife located someplace in the state. &nbs; Theplace we want to drill is actually pristine because nothing lives there.   There's no vegetation to support any sort of animal life.   It is as pristine as a rock.

And what sort of resources are at stake?   In 1980, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the Coastal Plain could contain up to 17 billion barrels of oil and 34 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.   Subsequent work in 1987 upped that estimate by as much as 60%.   Work in 1998 suggested these estimates were too low.

What's more, the Inupiat residents near the area targeted want drilling to go on there if for no other reason than to make survival easier for them.   It's really cold there and while they can use imported oil to heat their homes, they do not get the porkbarrel subsidies people in the New England states get from the federal government.   The people who live there realize that liberal publications like the wiggly weeder, and numerous other publications intended for adult readers have been publishing all these pictures showing pristine landscape with happy-go-lucky wildlife living in utopia.   This is a scenario that is simply a bold-faced lie.   Drilling in ANWR would have zero impact on even a single wild creature.   But the MSM continues to irrresponsibly lie to our faces and promote environmentalism with religious zealotry unparalleled in the history of mankind.   We and our Congress-people are the sorry saps who believe this bunk.

But no matter.   Drilling in ANWR is dead.   Ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch, dah dah dah dah.   See you at the pump!