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posted by mrpg on Monday November 27 2017, @08:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the oil-money dept.

USA Today

For decades, proponents of oil and gas drilling have viewed Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as an area rich with natural resources that could help fuel the United States' drive for energy independence.

Now, Congress may be on the verge of finally handing them permission to deliver on an old Republican mantra: Drill, baby, drill.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-10 last week to approve a bill that would allow oil and gas exploration in the refuge's 1.5-million-acre coastal plain. The measure will be added to the Senate's tax-reform package that is expected to be put to a vote before the end of the year.

And:

Alaska drilling tucked into tax bill:

The multi-decade fight over allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) could quickly be resolved if the GOP-controlled Congress approves the massive tax overhaul package. The bill includes language that opens up ANWR for drilling, and it will be taken up by the Senate this week, although the vote could be delayed if the Senate struggles to put together enough votes. The outcome of the legislation is unclear.

Also at Quad-Cities Online (opinion) and Alaska Public Radio


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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @08:46AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @08:46AM (#601992)

    If you are so concerned about the land, then buy it, and preserve it as you see fit; make an offer the owners cannot refuse.

    When will you marxists learn??? Capitalism is your salvation!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @08:52AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @08:52AM (#601996)

    Capitalism is your salvation!

    make an offer the owners cannot refuse.

    Absolutely! Either their brains or their signature will be on the contract... Indeed, it is capitalism in its purest, most naked form

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:30AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:30AM (#602001)

      You lunatic.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:39AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:39AM (#602006)

        Some seem's

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @07:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @07:33PM (#602145)

        Capitalism = Voluntary Interaction

        Only for the signatories, and only if not under duress. Everything else is collateral damage. *You better move, railroad's comin'... right now!* Capitalism is Gangsterism.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @10:25AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @10:25AM (#602012)

    Are there US laws that the government can use to take ownership of the land if they need it (with "compensation")? In many countries there is. As the capitalists already have the government in their pocket... buying land to prevent drilling might not even be a solution.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @03:09PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @03:09PM (#602068)

      Which are used for everything from public works projects (buying towns to dam up and flood the area for water retention/energy production), to favorable real estate development (forcing wholly owned small business Americans from their area in order to 'gentrify' it using some hyped up real estate developer, who it turns out doesn't actually have the money to redevelop the property and now it is derelict because you paid off and evicted the former business/owners who chose to retire rather than dealing with the hassles of relocation in their personal twilight years), to grabbing up land either for reforestation projects, or BLM ownership to limit state power.

      The dirtiest part in all of this, is once the local government or the feds have eminent domain control over some parcel of property they can do whatever they want with it, even find sneaky ways to not disclose an auction/sale is going on and sell it at favorable rates to their politically connected friends. We had exactly this happen with some property that had been intended to create a bridge over a river a few years back. A particularly powerful wealthy landowner with properties along that section of river got it for well below market rate in an undisclosed 'auction'.

      Whatever anyone tells you, the US is just as corrupt as many other regions. Just far more of it is backroom dealing than out in the open shakedowns.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:20PM (#602181)

        Which.... what? Oh you mean the text fucking subject line. Don't do that. It's retarded and best left for the drooling monkeys on the green site. Keep all information in the body.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @11:17AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @11:17AM (#602021)

    > If you are so concerned about the land, then buy it, and preserve it as you see fit; make an offer the owners cannot refuse.

    Done!

    The Alaska Purchase (Russian: Продажа Аляски, tr. Prodazha Alyaski) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, by a treaty ratified by the United States Senate, and signed by president Andrew Johnson.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase [wikipedia.org]

    The region first became a federal protected area in 1960 by order of Fred Andrew Seaton, Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1980, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_National_Wildlife_Refuge [wikipedia.org]

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday November 27 2017, @10:19PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 27 2017, @10:19PM (#602208) Journal

    If you are so concerned about the land, then buy it, and preserve it as you see fit

    I can only hope that your own land, your home, your community might be threatened by corporations exploiting the adjacent land for greed, and that your own quote resonates in your brain. Yeah, why don't you just buy all the adjacent land to prevent it from becoming oil sludge. Or radioactive sludge. Or something.

    Similarly with the atmosphere. Buy it all up and don't let polluters pollute it.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.