Just recently the other day I was looking around the internet trying to figure out policies for are upcoming senate race since I am having a tough time deciding if I want to vote for Heidi Heitkamp or Rick Berg so I researched their policies, and while reading what they were for and against I seen the issue offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands which Heidi was neutral on, and Rick Berg was actually all for it. Which made me wonder what would happen to our country if are president and senators are for drilling on federal lands.
After looking into some of the laws and policies it shows that if Governor Romney gets elected president he will try to pass a law that leaves federal drilling up to the state, which is bad, but I think it gives us more of a voice when our state gets to choose wether we want to drill on federal lands or not. My reason for this topic would be to show if drilling on federal land is the right thing or the wrong thing, and what will be some of the drawbacks to doing this. Honestly if you look at the facts in my opinion drilling on federal lands is just flat stupid since most of our federal lands either consist of national parks, wildlife refuges, or bureau of land management which is all land that helps conserve our countries natural resources wether this means helping the environment by having an area with trees and hiking trails or having an area which is home to and supports many different forms of wildlife. If our future president does vote to allow the states the right to allow or not allow drilling on federal lands it honestly probably won't effect North Dakota federal lands to much, but the big affect this law will have is on the Arctic National wildlife refuge, which has millions of acres of oil rich land that is home and habitat for many forms of wildlife. It my opinion this would be horrible and I know for a fact if we ever did open up the Arctic National Refuge for oil drilling that our nation would regret this and in the long term realize just how important our wildlife and environment actually is to us. Their should be no reason that it takes running our natural resources to realize this is bad for are country wether it means drilling in the arctic or any refuge or BMA land, either way they both help out are wildlife and habitat. For everyone out their what is your opinion on this issue and how do you feel this will affect our nation and state if it all, either way it will be an interesting next few years to see what happens with this law.
If drilling is allowed on federal lands, that will have enormous implications for North Dakota. This means that what little habitat that remains in our state will now be available for oil companies to make a mess of.
ReplyDeleteHabitat is going to be affected by this type of law whether it's in North Dakota or the Arctic.
Many politicians take a neutral or positive stance on this topic for two distinct reasons. One is that they choose to remain neutral because it's an election year and they don't want to lose votes. The reason others are for it is because they are operating on the idea that the US needs to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
I hope that politicians and people fully understand the implications that this will have on our federal land. Does anyone want to vacation at Yellowstone and see a bunch of oil rigs in the backdrop? I hope not.
Gosh i hope that they don't start drilling in places like wildlife refuges. It will make the wildlife numbers drop very fast being that they won't have a place to live. Being in the Wildlife management course I don't want that to happen. If they drill we will get one resource and lose another. Not a good idea!
ReplyDeleteIt's a relief to know that people actually take the time to research these things. I say this especially because I never take the time to do so. Knowing this could possibly help me make my decision on who to vote for. Drilling on federal land sounds like a horrible idea. Mainly because if it is left up to the state, chances are that that state would find a way to get past the people and drill where they please. I would hate to see parks and wildlife refuges become victim to the oil craze. If our country doesn't have national parks, then what will be left for us to enjoy. And for hunters who rely on wildlife, what would they do? I'm very interested to see how this goes.
ReplyDeleteIt would be sad if they started drilling for oil on places like state parks and other areas for wildlife. I have a feeling if that is allowed, North Dakota will become a huge area for drilling. While it would destroy the wildlife areas, it would possibly make gas prices go down here in North Dakota. I would rather keep our parks instead of turning them into oil rigs.
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