Bert: That's a non starter. One doesn't guage the effect of oil drilling by whether you can tell the oil well is there. You get the real full effect of oil drilling when the oil spills. And maybe kills all the wildlife in the bay. And up in the arctic, where the ecology is very fragile, building roads and running big pipelines over the ground, also have a serious effect on the environment.

There is also the problem, up there in Alaska, that the pipelines are not well maintained. And workers who report problems with maintenance get fired. Because middle and lower management at Alyeska are looking forward to careers with large oil companies, and look out for their interests, no matter what senior management at Alyeska says. And the State of Alaska lives from its oil revenues and would never dream of interfering.

Would you believe, instead of paying taxes, Alaskans are paid subsidies from those oil revenues! No wonder they are all a bunch of Republicans!