Oil is no longer the solution

To the editor:

The Frontiersman published opinions from U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan on Feb. 6 and Mike Wenstrup on Feb. 1 that assume we must open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil extraction.

That would be a tragic mistake. Anyone who visits ANWR with open eyes, and an appreciation for wild country and wildlife, will understand that it is worth protecting in its untouched state. It is biologically rich, serene and beautiful. It is truly “Alaska.” We humans will never be “locked out” from visiting it.

However, oil exploration and extraction, and all the infrastructure around it, is the end of wilderness, and we will never get it back. What makes Alaska special is NOT drilling pads, roads, man camps, heavy equipment, and pipelines, noise and exhaust fumes. All those are unavoidable in some places. Let’s keep them away from ANWR. That’s what “standing up for Alaska” would really look like.

And what about climate change? That is already hitting us. Ocean acidification is threatening our fisheries. It’s going to get a lot worse until something changes. We need to start thinking differently about our economic base: oil is no longer the solution, even though we still need it for now.

Phil Somervell

Palmer