Sitka took a stand

[Newtosavage]

For those who want to use "energy independence" and "national security" as your basis for agreeing with drilling in the 1002 area, how do you respond to the comments above about about how much oil the U.S. currently exports? How do you respond to the comments I made about what it actually means to be "conservative?" I would like to hear your answers to those two questions.

 

[Bighorse]

It a forum and we're geographically and intellectually diverse. I respect that we all experience wild places from various unique angles.
I propose one thing....lay your conservation efforts closer to your homes. Protect your wild places and family hunting grounds. Protect your grazing lands and fields. Protect your water ways and valleys.
In Alaska, we still have mother nature at the helm. Advocate for more wilderness areas if you want. Ensure that they are available for future generations.
But please allow American citizens to work and generate energy and harvest renewable resources.
Cut, Kill, Dig, and Drill!
Coastal AK will be the future of America long after I'm gone. Hydro Electric generation, Water, and land for future Americans.

 

[mwebs]

So you are saying don't drill anywhere because if you are hunting you don't want to see them? If you looked at the map someone provided they wouldn't be "everywhere". What kind of equipment/machinery is allowable where you are hunting? I hunt western ND and SD all the time. I would much rather look at oil wells pumping than a whole horizon of windmills which are popping up at a pretty fast clip. Are the areas where fracking is going on less important to you?

For the guys touting alternative energy...have you seen the solar projects they are doing in MN...Thousands of acres leveled and every single inch covered with solar panels. Have you seen the hundreds and thousands of acres some of the wind farms are taking up?

I lived and hunted in ND in the Bakken. Did I like shooting pheasants and ducks by oil rigs? Not as much as out in the middle of no where, but it is way less impactful on my experience then if I was hunting caribou in AK. I just think there are areas that need to left the hell alone, why should we pillage every single resource and area available? Obviously drilling in the ANWR is a hell of a lot different than drilling in some fallow farmers field in ND and if you can’t see the logic in that... We should be strategic in where and what resources we develop and part of that is leaving some areas wild and undisturbed.

Someone please explain to me how this would help local wildlife and residents? I would love to hear those arguments. You think they hire “locals” to run those rigs? Your off your rocker and if your in the industry you know that’s not what happens. How does the revenue impact the local economy? Those rigs are self contained machines where everything gets back to the company.

 

[Bighorse]

I appreciate this thread and am willing to read and respect any and all opinions being presented. Thank you folks!
I'll grab the above question directly without anger or contention. I'm glad you care about wild places Mwebs.
"Someone please explain to me how this would help local wildlife and residents"
Well I for one know directly two slope working families and a few others from a distance. I also know an engineer in Faibanks who builds roads and such. These families all enjoy living wages that pay taxes and likely don't qualify for govt supplementation. In AK there's taxation on oil and it's used for running services and infrastructure development. Now if we create quality roads up here you can fly up and drive to any number of wilderness area, air charter, or river to embark on a grand outdoor excursion. YOU can benefit from infrastructure development in AK. In addition to that the revenues can fund AK F&G of research and conservation efforts.
As far as directly effecting wildlife.....well in close proximity to rigs and near roads flora and fauna will perish. Good thing game has hoof. Good thing we have F&G bio's and enforcement to monitor and regulate game. Access will increase harvest.....so we'll have to contend with that issue.
My $.02

 

[wind gypsy]

Its chicken shit on anyone's part to use misleading pictures and rhetoric to push an agenda.

I don't know enough about the area to have a valid opinion on things but it is an odd time to push for drilling.

 

[CorbLand]

I don't know enough about the area to have a valid opinion on things but it is an odd time to push for drilling.

Its an excellent time to push for drilling. We just watched supply lines get destroyed and there is a big push for American manufacturing/buy American right now. Its an excellent time for oil companies to get things passed while the public is on that train.

I dont really have an opinion on this. It does scare me to see us open areas that have been protected and I think it becomes a slippery slope for future generations. I would like to know what are the determining factor for a waste land though?

 

[EastMT]

You don’t make new fields when you are short oil, it takes up to a decade to prep a new field. The state gets well over 50% of their revenues from oil, 90% of discretionary spending. They are hurting, the oil has picked up a bit but flow is down to 25% of its peak around 500,000 now. If it drops to the 300-350,000 range the oil will not flow without huge inline heaters when cold. They need more supply as older ones slow down to replace the flow.

If the pipeline dries up, Alaska will be in such bad shape I can’t even imagine. Half of Fairbanks would dry up, they benefit the most. Very few people hunt within sight of the infrastructure, it’s mostly off limits summer ground, hunting up the Sag, off the road, fly ins are all using the road built for oil, then complain because they want to get oil.

 

[Rich M]

I live with the effects of oil development and our stupid state tax system that all but requires small landowners to overgraze and destroy wildlife habitat, every day.

People are so uneducated on the long term incremental impacts of all types of development on wildlife.

It's always clear when folks think with their wallet first, but it's especially sad to see hunters doing it.

That's just bad management on behalf of the farmers. If they choose not to have wildlife habitat, it's their land and chosen land use. Happens when they make a living farming cows or crops.

There is nothing wrong with multiple uses of the land.

You are also disregarding all the env. Studies that will have to be completed on order to drill. They'll study the crap out of it.

 

[OldGrayJB]

I don't think this is being approved because of a need for oil, or to stimulate a local economy, or for national security. I think it's because we the people are almost 27 trillion in debt and the govt is looking at a way to liquify some assets. So they lease out some land and now ANWR is only 17.5 million acres. It could be worse. At least it's one contiguous area instead of multiple spots.

 

[Newtosavage]

That's just bad management on behalf of the farmers. If they choose not to have wildlife habitat, it's their land and chosen land use. Happens when they make a living farming cows or crops.

There is nothing wrong with multiple uses of the land.

You are also disregarding all the env. Studies that will have to be completed on order to drill. They'll study the crap out of it.

It's not the landowners. They have no choice. If they don't stock at the rate that the county tax assessor tells them to stock at, they will not be granted an ag exemption. And there is no guarantee the county tax assessor has any experience in grazing management or has ever laid eyes on their property. It's a screwed up system.

And believe me, I know all about the environmental studies. How does that help the scars in the 1st picture I shared above?

 

[Gearqueer]

The human is the most invasive species the world has ever seen.

That’s a good thing to keep in mind when making decisions about oil exploration.


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[MallardSX2]

So I am guessing that sitka doesn't make anything out of plastic?

 

[ODB]

The human is the most invasive species the world has ever seen.

That’s a good thing to keep in mind when making decisions about oil exploration.


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No need to implicate all of humanity. Simply make a better argument than your opponent.

 

[mooster]

we already produce more than we use

And sell it now overseas. So it’s a profit, exploitation issue not an need issue.

 

[tdhanses]

So I am guessing that sitka doesn't make anything out of plastic?

Don’t think Sitka said they are anti oil but I get how you would feel that if anyone is against drilling in wild places they must be purely anti oil everywhere. Last I checked we aren’t out of oil and our production only decreases as the price per barrel drops.

 

[Gearqueer]

I am not a treehugger, but I went to India last year and it was eye-opening. I pray we will never have a population high enough in North America to exploit our resources beyond repair like they have. It’s a sad state of affairs in Asia. To them, North America is only a few hundred years old and look at what we’ve already done to our landscape.

My argument is that if we keep on expanding everything in the name of progress then one day there will be nothing wild. Its the same battle the conservationists had to fight in the 1800’s, and it’s arguably even more important now.

There is another current thread about western hunting getting too popular. As eastern and midwestern farms are lost to development it forces many hunters out west. We don’t need to be building infrastructure for oil exploitation of more wild places.


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[ODB]

I am not a treehugger, but I went to India last year and it was eye-opening. I pray we will never have a population high enough in North America to exploit our resources beyond repair like they have. It’s a sad state of affairs in Asia. To them, North America is only a few hundred years old and look at what we’ve already done to our landscape.

My argument is that if we keep on expanding everything in the name of progress then one day there will be nothing wild. Its the same battle the conservationists had to fight in the 1800’s, and it’s arguably even more important now.

There is another current thread about western hunting getting too popular. As eastern and midwestern farms are lost to development it forces many hunters out west. We don’t need to be building infrastructure for oil exploitation of more wild places.


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On this we agree. I spent 11 days in Kenya last year and 54 million people in a space 2.75 times the size of idaho is quite full. Especially considering the north and south of the country is quite deserted.

a beautiful country I wish I could have seen 100 years ago.

 

[SLDMTN]

This is a very complex issue and one I'm conflicted about. From education and infrastructure to state biologists, oil funds most everything in this state. We do not have the population to self fund our current infrastructure through tax or other revenue streams.

To compare extraction practices and environmental impact from 40-50 years ago to present time is biased at best. I have thousands of hours working remotely on the north slope. The scrutiny we were under was immense, oils spills are not tolerated. Disturbing wildlife is not tolerated. Even taking a leak in the wrong spot will get you in trouble. Helicopters fly routes and pads in the summer to measure tundra impact, the fines for disturbing it are extreme.

The proposed drill area does not look like this (northern side of the Brooks):

It looks like this (actual oil country):

I 100% agree that this is a sleight of hand. While everyone is looking at misleading pristine mountain views and imagining their own ANWR adventure, the real move is the road being pushed west.

I like my job, phone, computer, truck, tires, Sitka rain gear, medical supplies, roads, super cubs and AV GAS. All of which are made possible through mining and oil.

End of the day, I hate misleading ad campaigns whether it's from an oil company or an environmental group.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Brilliant marketing on Sitka’s part. Will it push away some customers, sure, but it gain more from the more affluent end of the economic demographic, ie $1100 rain gear buyers. I agree we should be conservative in putting new holes in the ground and always weigh the cost/benefit of economic gain against negative effects on the landscape/wildlife. Don’t know enough about the AK specifics to inform that analysis. I am always curious where all the conservation orgs/ people outrage is as they continue to throw up wind/solar farms across the west. Talk about ruining the landscape, it’s awful and with huge impacts. Back to Sitka, to me their stuff seems a bit expensive with high markup for what it is (buy most 2nd hand) but different people see value differently. And hey someone’s gotta pay the salaries of all those backcounty pro hunter/photographer/insta celebs in Bozeman!

 

[william schmaltz]

I could careless about Sitka’s message, I just don’t see the need to drill when we are exporting more then we use currently. Nothing wrong with man not touching everything that they see $$ on.

Call me old fashioned, but I guess I hold truth and integrity on a pedestal. I do care about influential companies/individuals lying to get their way. I will maintain that stance whether it’s Sitka, NRA, PETA, CNN, Fox News, or otherwise. Misleading rhetoric has got us into quite a mess in this country.

And I made my stance on drilling the 1002 clear. My issue was purely with the dishonesties of Sitka and subsequent sheep-like following. I do not participate in cancel culture; especially because of one impetuous Facebook post. But I will l make a personal decision to not support a company if I see a pattern.