Oilman's View of ANWR

“I just got this narrative written by Mark Herndon. Mark is an oilman from Oklahoma who has worked with us for many years on our storm intercept projects as a volunteer. He just spent a month trekking ANWR... read what
he has to say. Pass it on to your friends if you are so inclined.
>
> Erik Rasmussen
> Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
> NSSL/OU
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> For those of you who don't know, I returned yesterday from a month alone in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in far northeastern Alaska. I'm really beat. I lost 25 lbs and basically feel like I have been beaten up.
> It was a really tough trip.
>
> I want to share a little bit about the place with you while it is still fresh in my mind; things that I feel are very important. I want to grab you by the lapels and tell you a few things that are true, because I have
> seen them.
>
> ANWR is probably the biggest chunk of absolute wilderness left in this country. I've also been in part of Gates of the Arctic National Park and
> Noatak National Preserve, two other large protected areas in the Brooks Range. ANWR is huge compared to those places; it's a place where you could walk your whole life and never see it all. Contrary to what you may have heard about the place in the media, it is not a vast wasteland. It is like heaven on earth, and hasn't been touched by man. There is not a single building, not a single trail, in an area that I've heard is about
comparable to South Carolina. It's 19 million acres and there ain't no visitor center.
>
> Very few people go there. It is difficult and committing to get there. Since I have been there, and with the current political situation about ANWR's coastal plain, I emphatically want to tell you what it is like. And
> feel free to tell your friends.
>
> First, I paddled the Canning River, on the west side of the Refuge. I
> started up high in the glaciated Brooks Range and hiked for a few days.
> Craggy mountains and a two day snowstorm on the fourth of July. It looks
> wilder than the wildest part of Colorado without the trees. That part of
> the refuge is far north of treeline.
>
> As I floated down I saw gyrfalcons, peregrines and golden eagles. I saw
> musk ox and had a long, close encounter with a grizzly bear. Everywhere
> were tracks of caribou, muskox, grizzly, wolf and wolverine.
>
> I hiked up side valleys that were miles wide and absolutely flat tundra
> covered with lupines and arctic poppies. A close examination of the tundra
> reveals hundreds of tiny flowers and lichens. Everywhere were old caribou
> antlers and skulls poking up through the tundra. Wolf killed caribou
> skeletons also dot the tundra, often skulls with huge antlers attached. I
> saw more muskox, and managed to walk pretty close to some of them, before
> they got a little agitated.
>
> As I floated out of the mountains to the coastal plain I began to see
> caribou in earnest. More than you could ever count. It was like being in a
> herd in Africa. This is also where I came out of the wilderness part of
> the refuge and the river became the boundary between state land on the
> left (where oil exploration goes on) and ANWR on the right bank. On the
> state land I began to see many abandoned fuel drums and huge tracks on the
> tundra where cat trains shoot seismic in the winter. The tracks don't go
> away any time soon. I saw abandoned drums on the tundra constantly after a
> while over on the state land.
>
> As I crossed the coastal plain I saw many smaller caribou herds and began
> to see lots of birds; geese, ducks, tundra swans, and many strange types
> of birds that I have no idea what they were, probably migrating up from
> Hawaii or Chile to nest.
>
> All this time, I saw more and more garbage on the left bank. Most of the
> animals were on the right bank. In this day and age, I would think that
> BP-Amoco, Exxon, and Phillips would go clean all that crap up.
>
> I made my way to the delta of the river where it empties into the Beaufort
> Sea, and in a 2:00am lull in the wind paddled a roundabout 10 miles across
> the four mile lagoon to an island that is about 6 miles long. There were
> many small icebergs about thirty feet across. I saw old sod huts that the
> eskimos used to live in on the island, and found that the entire north
> side of the island was still fast against the sea ice which continues to
> somewhere in Russia, I guess. I walked out on it for a ways, and it is
> really rough. One day I watched ringed seals (polar bears staple food)
> sunning on the ice through binoculars. I saw a huge set of polar bear
> tracks around the lagoon side of the island, but they were pretty old. The
> island was just a few miles outside of the ANWR boundary, and Exxon had
> drilled a dry hole on it in the past two years. It was one of the
> filthiest locations I have ever seen in my 15 years working in the oil
> industry. I was really surprised, because Exxon drillsites in the lower 48
> are usually the cleanest of them all. I was not impressed with what I saw
> of the oil industry in Alaska.
>
> Then my bush plane landed on a sandspit and took me to the headwaters of
> the Jago river, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places
> on earth. I spent ten days in this valley, hiking up to the glaciated
> peaks at it's headwaters. Part of the Porcupine caribou herd had gone
> south up the valley a couple of days before my arrival and there were
> millions of tracks, all heading south. Interspersed were the occasional
> wolf or grizzly track. I saw a few stray cow caribou, but the show had
> already moved south for the winter.
>
> On the Jago, I was trapped for two days waiting for a rain swollen river
> to come down so I could wade across. I fell in the same river on the way
> up, and wet gear up there is serious trouble because of the cold. The only
> way to describe this valley is to take the prettiest valley in Montana or
> Idaho and double it. It just took your breath away. It was so different
> that it may as well have been the moon. One night while I slept a grizzly
> walked by my tent. There was a set of fresh tracks there that weren't
> there the night before. He paid me no mind.
>
> Anyway, I was picked up on a gravel bar on the lower river and flown out
> to Kaktovik, on the coast. I heard there were nine white people in
> Kaktovik, but the Inupiat eskimos who live there were very nice people.
> You'd see someone cleaning a freshly killed bearded seal in the front yard
> of their house. A local hunter (they basically all hunt and whale) heard
> I'd been on the Canning and sought me out for skinny on where the caribou
> still were. From there, I made all of the flights home.
>
> Before I went to see ANWR for myself I already had some conceptions. After
> last year in Alaska I thought that modern oil exploration could be done
> responsibly. Certainly most Alaskans were for it. They got $1600 each last
> year from the north slope oil money.
>
> After seeing ANWR....seeing that coastal plain myself, I realized that
> there are a lot of lies being told about this place. It is not a vast
> wasteland. It is achingly beautiful, and if you value wild places, the
> refuge could be considered a sanctuary or a cathedral. To me, it was an
> intense experience far beyond what I expected. I have been going to wild
> places most of my life, but I have never been to a place like this. Not
> even close in the lower 48.
>
> There are a few places that are just not appropriate for large scale oil
> exploration. This place is far more fantastic than Yellowstone or Grand
> Teton, but it is far away and few care.
>
> If we put a bunch of drill pads on that coastal plain we will be making a
> terrible mistake. Our country will never again be energy independent
> anyway. Those numbers don't lie. Drilling in ANWR will only help about 4
> major oil companies and the state of Alaska (which is completely addicted
> to the oil tit). The numbers don't lie. It will only make a few percent
> difference to the nation.
>
> The first morning back, I read in the paper that the House approved
> drilling in ANWR. I felt like crying. That coastal plain is very narrow,
> and the most environmentally sensitive exploration would put a giant blot
> on it.
>
> Most of you will never meet anyone else in your life who has actually been
> to ANWR. Fewer still who have crossed the coastal plain. I emphatically
> urge you to listen to what I am saying and take it into account as you
> form your own opinions. The vote to open ANWR still has to make it through
> the senate, and those of you in Oklahoma are wasting paper by writing to
> our senators; to those of you in other states, maybe you can help.
>
> And remember. I AM in the oil industry. I'm all for drilling in many, many
> places. Not here. The price is way too high.
>
> I can't emphasize enough how special this place is. I don't believe the
> promise that they will only disturb 2000 acres. When they get through
> shooting seismic in that place it will look like a chessboard from the
> air. It's kind of like a football field. 22 players standing on their feet
> probably occupy far less than 100 square feet of that football field. But
> they sure do make an impression. The coastal plain is the living part of
> the refuge. The rest is very mountainous and almost sterile by comparison.
> To go stomping on the coastal plain with a series of industrial sights is
> just too much.
>
> I don't want to have to say that I saw ANWR way back BEFORE it got all
> messed up.
>
> Thanks for listening (for those of you who made it through this).
>
> Mark Herndon
>”

“Thanks, RM.

I've heard that those 2000 acres will not be contiguous, necessarily. Imagine 2000 1-acre sites... perhaps 4000 half-acre sites.”

“For what it's worth, have you emailed this to Dubya?”

“What a crock.”

“What kind of story was that, no bugs?
I still have nightmares about gazing out into the midnight sun through my tent screen that was alive with blood thristy skeeters. Hundreds probing every little hole in the mesh and thousands more lay in ambush waiting for the next feeding.”

“This identical essay was recently in my local paper attributed to a woman reporter. I just saw it again on another web site with the author listed as an Atlanta attorney.

Do we have the beginnings of another internet urban legend?”

“uh oh. Flim-flammed again!”

“The liberal spin machine continues to dupe the ignorant masses.”

“Eric Rasmussen the meteorologist is a real person.

I emailed him to ask him if this ANWR report is for real. If he answers I will post his reply.

I have to admit I was very suspicious... but finding out that he there really is an accomplished meteorologist by that name gives me reason to wonder.”

“Like the 'conservatives' don't.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”

“And what do a meteorologist or an oilfield roughneck know about wildlife biology and long-term disturbance impacts?”

“The question I'm asking is: "is the guy for real?" If he is, we might not trust him on the science.. but the eyewitness report provides some potentially useful information. If it is BS, then thats good to know. I, for one, like to do some homework before passing judgement on things. It helps to dig a little if you want to learn anything new (otherwise you are just hearing what you want to hear and tuning out what you don't want to hear).”

“Speaking of digging deeper: Gordon: what web site did you see it on? and what was the local paper you saw it in?”

“I may be the only person on this website that has even been to Alaska. Why all the opposition to utilizing our natural resources?”

“'Cause we're never going to be even close to independent from foreign sources anyway, so why bother? I bet you brive a gas-guzzling POS anyway.”

“I've been to Alaska. I've been in the northwest, the southwest, the Canadian rockies and upper prairies. I appreciate the solitude when I can find it, the wilderness, and the open space; all rapidly diminishing commodities.

My town was given 320 acres by a landowner to do with as it pleased. There was talk of all sorts of development, from the sublime to the ridiculous. I led the fight to get the whole tract preserved as untouched wildland, home to bear, coyotes, catamounts, deer, moose, and dozens on bird species. My town has grown from 300 people to 800 in 25 years, and the difference is noticeable. Farms and woods disappear and are never reclaimed. Having a place of solitude with no human intrusion is gonna be one of this town's biggest assets in years to come.

I took my son back to my hometown some years ago to show him the woods and fields my scout troop used to camp in. I couldn't even find the roadside area where we parked our bikes and hiked in. All pavement, condos, and mini-malls. A natural place of beauty, gone for good.

Same idea with ANWR. World population is expected to peak at 9 billion by about 2070, according to the last estimates I heard (assuming that a variety of viruses and bacteria don't take over). That's a sh!tload of people. I felt bad that my son grew up in a country that had twice as many people in it as were in it when I was his age. You ever leave two mice in a cage for a year and let the reproductive urge run its natural course? It's not a pretty sight, and in many ways it mimics what's going on in the human world.

Human beings are already pillaging the earth to supply their increasing numbers with decreasing resources. The forests are disappearing, fresh water is being depleted, land is being gobbled up, and oil is being consumed. In the outskirts of Atlanta, an area 3 times the size of my town is bulldozed, paved and developed every year. The basic problem the world faces is population control. Control the increasing mass of humanity, use the resources we have more wisely (bye-bye SUVs), and maybe we'll be able to pull out our's and the earth's survival. Homo sapiens is, after all, a mere blip in the history of the planet and has yet to prove it can endure.

Drilling in what's left of the untouched parts of this planet, such as ANWR, are mere stop-gap solutions. I have read, and I could be wrong, that all the oil in ANWR would supply this country for a mere 6 months, and that a good deal of it would go to Japan, anyway. Even if we got 2 or 3 year's worth of oil out of the place, is it really worth trashing yet another corner of the earth to fill our insatiable appetite for energy. We need to start addressing the long-term problems and find long-term solutions, or this planet is gonna end up being an overcrowded, polluted, and trashed wasteland. Sorry for sounding like some whiny liberal, which I'm not, but that's not a legacy I want to leave my kids and grandkids. Open space and solitude are going to be rare, and much needed, items in the future, so let's leave a few.

And I do put my money where my mouth is: I raise a lot of my own food, heat with wood I cut, heat water with wood or demand-only LPG, use minimal electricity, and drive a car that gets 40 mpg.”

“I never understood how conservation became a 'liberal' ideal.”

“I don't understand conservatives electing George W., then complaining about his anti-environmental policies.”

“Violin, conservation is not just a liberal ideal. Running out of energy is not a liberal ideal either, but that is what happens when a liberals refuse to compromise on environmental issues.

Tilt, What anti-environmental polices are you talking about? Drilling for oil?

When the nuclear warhead goes off in the Middle East what are our options?”

“You're kidding, right?”

“You are kidding yourself.”

“Don't think so. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you.”

“The perception of conservatives being anti conservation is a myth perpetuated by the left. There is very little evidence to support this theory. The Democrats are simply riding around in SUV's criticizing anyone else who does. The Democrats want to call Bush anti environmental, because he is pursuing a vital National security and energy issue. Rather than criticize why don't they come up with an alternative plan?”

“I'm neither liberal or conservative - but I have an idea for a plan - why not reduce compsumption to susatinable levels?

Oh, wait, there's not much so profit in that. Maybe we should just continue promoting excess at every turn and rape the earth until it's barren.

You'll not convince me that a million KW of lights on the strip is a vital national security issue.”

“That sounds good. How are we going to make it happen?”

“I'm told in Europe there is a hefty tax based on engine displacement. I always thought that was a good one, the idea being that larger engines consume more fuel and should be discouraged. We could never do that here until the politicians get out of the automakers pocket.

We could also enact and enforce reasonable and minimal mpg standards. It's ludicrous that SUV's don't have to comply with the present standards, watered down as they are.

I had a 1980 WV Sirocco that consistently got 44 MPG. 20 yrs later with all the technological advances, especially computerized fuel injection and ignition, and what do we have? Try finding a 40-MPG vehicle. My Chevy S-10 4 cyl gets 24 MPG!!! I truly think it's a conspiracy.

Why do we have to have streetlights on the freeways? I have lights on my friggen car.

Why do the gas stations have to have a zillion candlepower lighting? Is there that big of a market for consumers afraid of the dark?

The list goes on and on...”

“Start with campaign finance reform. A little of that would go a long way to correct so very many political excesses (for a little while, at least, *G*).

Now that you mention it, LS, I-20 is now lit about 1/6 it's 135-mile length from Augusta to Atlanta.

The one repeated mantra one hears is "Growth". It appears that we are caught in an 'Alice in Wonderland' world where the only way to sustain our economy is to keep growing. Unfortunately the planet is a closed system; the resources are finite.

How do we correct that?

I think we're screwed, bacpac.”

“"Rather than criticize why don't they come up with an alternative plan?"

Gee, the conservatives NEVER criticized that other guy.

Mandating fuel efficiency increases of 2 miles per gallon would save more oil than ANWR could produce. Doubling fuel economy over the next 10 years would dwarf any possible amounts produced by drilling. There's an alternative plan.”

“Mark Herndon is about as real as a Liberal who doesn't take advatage of his/her uneducated constituents..... he's not. I too have lived in Alaska, and actually worked on the pipeline as a chain and rod man on a survey crew. I have two observations about Oil and Alaska.

1. The animals were fine, abundant and thriving all around the pipeline (hey liberals - this is the truth from an actual eyewitness) I saw few signs of pollution, and was amazed how much in nature and man made objects were in harmony. (probably because I believed all of the BS lies that were forced fed to me by LIBERALS)

2. I worked with many guys that worked near ANWAR and in Prudhoe Bay, there is barely any animals up there because it is so damned cold. They could only work outside for 20 minutes at a time, or they would freeze to death (even with all the top notch gear) Maybe there are some animals that migrate in the southern areas of ANWAR during the 3 month summer, but Caribou, and Wolverines, and Eagles will have a hard time surviving in those temps.

Lets start using some common sense already, and question bogus idealistic emails like this one.

2.”

“Prove to me it's bogus and then we'll talk. Do you think it's no coincidence that Bush refuses to sign an international treaty to reduce CO2 emissions and his conquest to find more oil to burn? Hmmm. I wonder.”

“Proof, you had three people post saying they heard the same story from 3 other "fictional" characters. The next thing you know, the libs will send the same email coming from a kid in a wheelchair who's make-a-wish dream was to kayak ANWAR and save all the animals. You prove to me that is is real! My proof to you is my personal eyewitness account.

As for Bush and the CO2 emissions, the guy is protecting our best interests. Because we have all these liberal "enviromental" freindly laws in effect now, many of our companies are moving to underdeveloped nations. Then, when we have no middle class jobs available, and everyone is poor, the libs can point the finger at conservatives and say - look at all the money those people make, you should have some of that. What a farce. I think I may go to Autozone, buy a quart of oil, and dump it in my metro park just to piss some of you tree huggers off.”

“BTW, the only thing that I don't agree with in Bush's plan to drill for oil in ANWAR is the fact that he wants to use BABY seal oil to lubricate the drills. I think they should use both BABY seals and Adult seals.”

“Perhaps we would be better served by noting the results of peer-reviwed studies rather than the eyewitness reports of untrained observers.”

“The Bear made more sense when he was sloshed.”

“kleety, the estimated oil output in ANWAR is 100 million barrels of oil a day for one hundred years.”

“As it happens, just about every other nation in the world signed the Koyoto treaty, except the US.

"I think I may go to Autozone, buy a quart of oil, and dump it in my metro park just to piss some of you tree huggers off"

Go to it buddy. And while you're at it, stand in front of your car on a steep hill, with the emergency brake off and the car in neutral.”

“Hey fudgepac, show me the numbers, bud.”

“I just did.”

“The government's most optimistic estimate is there's only a 50 percent chance of producing 10 billion barrels total...even at that, it's nowhere close to the number your threw out, bacpac. (36500 days X 100,000,000)”

“I got my info from the Govenor of Alaska.”

“Now there's an accurate source, bac.”

“Did he tell you how to spell 'Governor'?”

“No he taught me how to say, I told you so.”

“bacpac -

Those numbers don't quite compute from everything that I've read. That would yield something like 3.65 Trillion barrels - quite a bit more than anyone official has estimated. I know it's hard to work a calculator without opposable thumbs, but try it.

USGS link

The fact remains that it is a whole lot of oil by anyone's estimate. It would roughly double Alaska's production from what I've gathered. That it is only something like 6 months of US consumption is a real shame on us!

All that said, I'm still for preserving the area, at least for now. I may never get to visit, but having some unspoiled parts of the world is desirable in my mind.

Besides, we may turn out to be the biggest idiots ever to some future civilization that figures out a far better use for oil than just burning it. Wouldn't it be nice to keep it in the bank - just in case?”

“I take my last staement back, I'd rather pour the oil on a tree hugger - much less damage to the enviroment. And if you don't want to use an "untrained" eye as a source, just keep digesting all the info. that poeple who probably have never been there give to you. They like people like you because it keeps them in power.”

“This is about to become a 'Naked Oil Twister' thread.”

“"...poeple who probably have never been there give to you"

From your earlier statement, it doesn't appear as though you've ever been there (ANWR) either.

"They like people like you because it keeps them in power. "

Obviously, it didn't work in the last election.”

“too bad we can't run this country on piss and moans.”

“Thank God! Here is the official USGA Report on ANWR click here.

The report was done during the Clinton Administartion, while Bill was lying to the public. If you a problem comprehending it, please find an Independant or Republican to read it/ translate it for you.”

“BB -Wherever did you find that link? (Please read my post of 2:15 above)

I'm registered independent, so if you need me to read it to you, I'd be happy to. (Apparantly right wing reactionaries have some troubles too.)”