OIL, ANWR, WILDLIFE AND “CLIMATE CHANGE”

By Ted Gianoutsos

2010 Candidate for U.S. Senate

January 21, 2009

During all of our life (we are both 67 and have been married for 46 years), oil has fueled our lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. This is true for all Americans whether they are honest enough to admit it or not.

 Since the Second World War when America rose to become the dominant power in the world, oil has fueled America’s national security, economy, and the enviable American way of life. Elitist greenies and their political allies have of course also benefited from oil’s myriad blessings upon America and Americans.

 Yet, despite this “inconvenient truth” about the blessings of oil it has become fashionable, and indeed profitable, to bad-mouth oil. Because most Americans have long ago become used to the relatively cheap price of oil products – gasoline, diesel, etc. – when prices for these fuels rise quickly, people become more susceptible to the greenies “sky is falling” global warming exaggerations.

 Nevertheless, most folks are reasonable. They can and do appreciate the comfort that oil has made possible in their lives. As the greenies claims become more strident, people become more skeptical. When the greenies lay their “carbon footprint” green guilt on ordinary working Americans, most folks become resentful of the elitist intrusion in their lives – especially when the elitist demand a reduction in Americans’ standard of living to benefit foreigners.

 ANWR contains both wildlife and oil. The oil can be extracted responsibly as it has in Prudhoe and the royalties can actually greatly benefit the wildlife. We have proposed a way to do this. Indeed, we personify it as we do the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) that we founded 25 years ago. Please see our website – tedandfran.com – for more details on both our ANWR plan and our founding of the NFWF.

 Wildlife and wilderness, not oil, are the essence of Alaska. The notion that ANWR is somehow unique in terms of wilderness and wildlife is laughable to us as lifelong wildlife conservationists who have put our money where our mouths are for wildlife and founded the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

 The “inconvenient truth” is that Alaska is one huge wilderness. We have lived in the center of Anchorage – Alaska’s largest city with 300,000 people, half of Alaska’s population – for the past 10 years. We regularly see very large moose, including huge bulls, right outside of our apartment window, within 5 feet of our front door.

 Moose are very common all over town. Anchorage also has both black and grizzly bears, wolves, and many other wild critters. The “inconvenient truth” is that the Chugach Mountains that we see from our windows only 5 miles away are just as wild as anyplace else in Alaska including ANWR, Denali National Park or any other so-called “special” wild areas.

 The large quantities of American and Alaskan oil and gas in ANWR can and should be responsibly produced. With our plan, that production will fund a multi-billion dollar National Endowment for Wildlife (N.E.W.). We are confident that most Americans will support that when they become aware of it.

 As for “climate change” we say, give it a rest – and give us a break! We just don’t buy all the hype and all of the green guilt carbon footprint nonsense. When the elitist greenies produce, without tax-payer funding – a better and cheaper fuel to replace oil, we will buy and use it. So will everybody else. That is the magic of the capitalistic free market.

 Meanwhile, let’s all continue to enjoy the blessings of oil that currently fuels all of our lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness here in the greatest of all countries, and let us produce more American and especially Alaskan ANWR oil and gas!