Animals and ANWREnvironmentalists tell us that we cannot tap the oil reserves in ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) because that activity would threaten the ecosystem and destroy habitat for the animals. So let’s do a bit of fact-checking to see how animals respond to such human activity. Are they frightened away?
Here is ANWR in the spring.
Here is ANWR in the summer.
Do the pollution, noise and human activity involved in drilling for oil cause wildlife to flee in large numbers? Not hardly.
Have access roads constructed for drilling operations proved to be a real impedement to wildlife movement? Not hardly.
Does the presence of oil pipelines upset the bears? These bears are obviously using the pipeline as a way of getting around instead of walking across perfectly good tundra!
And, yes, the polar bears are OK with the oil drilling operation also.
The polar bear couldn’t find an ice floe to stand on, so he spends his time hangling out with the oil drillers. And for some reason, the oil pipelines seem to provide a source of amusement and play for bears.
The bear could have just as easily walked under the pipeline, but he chose to climb on it and play on it.
Of course, no one wants to do anything to harm or upset the native wildlife. But we have the technology to be careful, and they don’t seem to mind.
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