Young corrects Greenwire

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) issued a press release Oct. 20 correcting factual errors appearing in a recent Greenwire story on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“I know this issue as well as anyone and I’m getting sick and tired of the repeated lies and distortions being spread by Vice President Gore and the extreme environmental groups,” Young said. “The entire story was based upon a suspect poll that is two-weeks old that was commissioned by a liberal special interest group.”

The Greenwire story claims that Gov. George W. Bush supports drilling in something called the “biological heart” of ANWR that would impact more than eight percent of entire refuge.

In his release, Young points out that the entire refuge is 19 million acres. Oil and gas activity would only be allowed in the 1.5 million acre coastal plain: “The actual ‘footprint’ of this activity would be less than 2,000 acres — the size of Dulles Airport. This means that less than one-tenth of one percent of the entire refuge would be impacted in order to recover up to 31 billion barrels of oil.”

The Greenwire story also “asserts that 95 percent of the North Slope is already open to oil and gas exploration or drilling,” Young said. “This is also false. Only 14 percent of the Arctic coastline is open to oil exploration.”