Musings of an Alaska Liberal

When describing myself politically, I tend to call myself an “Alaskan Liberal.” I use it to identify that I separate myself from many of my progressive counterparts on certain key issues.

1) I support fishing and hunting for subsistence reasons. I have several freezers full of salmon and halibut that Josh and I have caught this year. We happily accept donations of moose and caribou from our friends and family who go hunting in the autumn.

2) I oppose gun control that would seriously impact hunters. (But please don’t try to tell me that armor-piercing bullets, automatic weapons and plastic handguns are good hunting equipment.)

3) You can take my fur hat off of my cold, dead body. My PETA challenge: Come to Alaska! We will go winter camping in the Alaskan Interior. You will wear only your modern, state-of-the-art high-tech fibers (many of which are petroleum based, but I digress) and I will wear as much fur as I want. After 24 hours, I’ll be just fine and YOU, my PETA friend, will be crying for mercy. I worked in Prudhoe Bay far, far above the Arctic Circle for 2 years. Fur is the ONLY thing that will keep you warm in a cold climate over the long haul.

4) I support dog mushing. Groups like PETA contend that it is “cruel.” (Can you tell that I hate PETA?) I worked as a dog-handler when a friend ran the Iditarod 10 years ago. I regularly attend the start of the Iditarod. I also have several co-workers and good friends who are mushers. They are the most responsible dog-lovers I know, as is every musher I have ever met. Sled dogs are bred to run…they aren’t happy unless they are running and will whine unmercifully if they are not getting enough exercise. Dog mushers that do mistreat their dogs don’t win races and are shunned from the mushing community. Some of the cruelest folks I’ve seen are every-day pet-owners.

4) While I'm not a fan of the oil industry, I also can't abide the “OMG...don't hurt the bunnies!" psuedo-science. While I was in Prudhoe for 2 years, I was able to see a lot more of the area than just where I was working. (There aren’t many women up there so I occasionally got special privileges…don’t ask…) There are extensive, very rigid environmental and safety regulations in place specifically so that, when they leave, there will be little evidence left of the work that was done. (That’s why; by the way, most exploration for oil has occurred overseas in the last 20 years…it’s much cheaper when other countries cater to the oil companies and don’t bother to employ such regulations.)

However, off-shore drilling is another animal entirely. This brings me to the motivation for this post: President Bush is proposing to lift the moratorium on drilling in Bristol Bay.

Bristol Bay has the world’s largest red salmon fishery. It is located in the Bering Sea; home of the largest crab fishery in the world. Spills are relatively easy to control and contain for land-based drilling – not true for off-shore. The environmental impact of an off-shore oil spill is impossible to predict as it is tied to more than just quantity. Wind direction, tides etc…could make even a smaller spill devastating to the fishing industry. And let's not forget to mention that the area has some of the roughest seas in the world.

This is such a bad idea, the office of Republican Senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, is stating that even in light of the President’s proposal, she is still against lifting the ban on drilling.

I’ve worked in the oil industry; I worked for Environmental Engineers for 6 years; I’ve worked in construction for longer. I am a reasonable person when it comes to development. The Bush Administration has gone beyond all reason.