Well, the honorable members of congress who embarked upon the American Energy Tour are back from their excursion to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in search of any wildlife to be found there. According to the first report I’ve seen from any of the members of the travelling party, that of Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) as published on the website of the National Review, they didn’t find any.
In the famous words of Captain Renault in the classic film Casablanca, “I’m shocked, shocked…!” (By the way, note the time and date of the publication of the article and recall that the visit to ANWR was to have taken place on July 20, 2008.)
Discussing the supposed oil exploration site the representatives viewed while flying over ANWR, reported to be a “small 2,000-acre lot” by Rep. Bachmann (not counting, of course, the hundreds of miles of roads and land covered by other structures that will be needed for logistical support), the congresswoman point out in her report that “almost no wildlife exists in the 2,000-acre area. It was flat arctic tundra with absolutely no trees in view. And, caribou and wildlife were nowhere near the possible drilling sites.”
I’ll pass by the matter of the lack of trees on tundra, as well as gloss over the migratory nature of caribou, and simply allow the interested reader to visit the URL of the report itself to take a peep at the photos of the area, taken from the windows of the airplane, that Rep. Bachmann includes to back up her observations. Judging from the size of the buildings on the ground in the one image, I’d say it would be pretty darned difficult to spot any animal smaller than an African Elephant from that altitude, but then maybe that’s just my problem.
I think the observed absence of wildlife in ANWR as reported by at least this member of the American Energy Tour is best summed up in the good representative’s opening line of her second paragraph, “Like I knew it would…” I think that, as well as the title of the report itself, “Drill Here, Drill Now” effectively conveys the Zeitgeist of the entire trip.
Peace and good bird watching.
