Island Voices
Arctic drilling must be prevented

By Daniel Grantham
HawaiÎi resident

For those who haven't had a chance to call Sen. Dan Akaka (the crucial swing vote) and ask him to prevent oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, his phone number is 202-224-6361, fax is 202-224-2126, e-mail is senator@akaka.senate.gov

Representatives of the native Alaskan/Canada Gwich'in people have come to Hawai'i to ask our help defending their land, traditions and survival from massive oil development.

Read the August 2001 National Geographic to find out what is at stake and what drilling on adjoining lands has damaged.

Here's why oil drilling doesn't belong in the Arctic Refuge:

• Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will do nothing to help Hawai'i's energy situation. The only way to energy security in Hawai'i is developing clean, local sources of solar and wind power, not importing more oil.

• Prudhoe Bay is estimated to contain 40 more years of oil for this nation's energy needs; that's plenty of time for the United States to develop alternative-energy sources and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

• The unprotected area of the arctic refuge coastal plain provides vital habitat for nearly 200 species of animals, including the 129,000-member Porcupine Caribou herd as well as polar bears, grizzlies, wolves and millions of migratory birds, including several Hawai'i winterers.

• Drilling in the refuge will have no discernable short-term or long-term impact on the price of fuel and will not decrease our dependence on foreign oil. The amount of oil under the arctic refuge would never satisfy more than 2 percent of our nation's oil demands at any given time.

• America does need a sound national energy policy, but we simply can't drill our way to lower prices or energy independence. Our energy policy should emphasize decreasing the demand rather than increasing the supply of fossil fuels. There are reliable and sensible means of achieving these ends — such as energy conservation, alternative energies and improved energy efficiency.

• Oil development in the "American Serengeti" cannot be done in an "environmentally sensitive" manner. Since 1996, the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and Trans-Alaska Pipeline have caused an average of 427 spills annually on the North Slope — most common are spills of diesel and crude oil. Whether by accident or faulty maintenance, the arctic refuge coastal plain is too precious to risk from spills such as these.