Geological survey's study on ANWR fatally flawed

Full document available in pdf format.

The media, Greens, and Democrats have enjoyed a feeding frenzy since the premature release on March 28 of a 78-page report by the Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey on the possible impact of oil exploration and development on wildlife in the Arctic Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR [2]). Stressing the sensationalist aspects of the report—claims that development would harm the caribou, polar bears, musk-oxen and migratory birds, especially Snow Geese—the media argued that Interior's own biologists had refuted Bush Administration claims that development would have negligible impact on the wildlife. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D.-Conn.) was reported by Joe Hebert of the Associated Press as saying, "Once again the administration has released a report undermining its own case." Lieberman claimed the report confirmed "the environmental destruction that would occur" if ANWR [2] were opened.”This is simply continued proof that a quarter-century of radical environmentalism and staggering government subsidization of science has so politicized and corrupted science that the entire concept of honest science or good science has all but vanished. It's like the golden rule, that whoever owns the gold makes the rules. Good science is a will-o'the-wisp, a chimera. Whoever has the guns determines what is good science and no amount of congressional legislation will change that or define what good science is.This appears especially the case with some of the 26 authors of the report. An analysis by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources shows that seven of the 26 authors, including all of the authors of the caribou section, had signed a November 2000 letter to President Clinton urging him to lock up ANWR [2] by designating it as a National Monument.Is it any wonder then that their "science" can't be relied upon? They should have recused themselves from participation in the report.Furthermore, some of the authors are not with the USGS, but with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Institute of Arctic Biology. One is with Northern Conservation of the Canadian Wildlife Service. (After having drilled nothing but dry holes in the Yukon range of the Porcupine caribou herd, Canada became adamantly opposed to any drilling, arguing it would destroy the Porcupine herd.) Most of the analysis of this "new" report is based on old scenarios, involving such things as year-round highways crossing the entire Coastal Plain and jet airports—none of which have been contemplated or planned. All current development plans are based on wintertime operations when the vast majority of the wildlife is gone and involve the use of ice roads and ice landing strips.Last year's bipartisan House-passed energy bill, H.R. 4, mandates that full development, including disturbance and gravel pads for drill sites and buildings, would total a mere 2,000 acres out of 1.5 million acres. Yes, on those 2,000 acres of gravel, sandpipers, plovers and phalaropes that nest in the tundra grasses and sedges would be displaced and would have to nest adjacent to the pads. But, that still leaves an area in the Coastal Plain over twice the size of the entire state of Rhode Island and larger than the entire state of Delaware that is untouched and available for migratory birds to nest, feed, and stage for migration. As Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D.-Md.) remarked after visiting the KIC- 1 test drill site in ANWR [2] in the 1980s and walking through the restored vegetation, "Where's the beef?"The USGS report's warning that drilling would harm the caribou is patently absurd from over a quarter-century of experience.The Central Arctic caribou herd, which lives in close proximity to existing Prudhoe Bay oil fields and their relatively extensive development numbered about 3,000 prior to drilling. The caribou population grew steadily to over 23,000 head as development expanded and as the Greens continued to say oil would destroy the caribou.