Politics being shortsighted as they are, the American people will eventually demand we drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Most of us would mow down the caribou and plow up the tundra ourselves if it meant we could avoid paying $10 for a gallon of gasoline. As an avid hunter, fisherman, and by extension, conservationist, it makes me sad.
There have been some possible solutions proposed to mitigate, if not negate and prevent, the damage. One of the most promising I've heard is horizontal drilling. Oil companies set up drilling rigs outside ANWR, where man's footprint already sits heavy, and drill down and then across the land, sucking oil from under ANWR ground without ever touching the surface.
Geologists probably wince because any time you take something out from under the earth, the land above it could sag. But the main opposition I've seen is from corporate bean counters who say it is too hard.
Well, the Russians are doing it already. Read about it here.
