How Two Times Reporters Covered the Hunt for Oil in Alaska

This story doesn't tell much about the details of 2017 tax revision to hunt for Alaskan oil. Instead, I learned that Alaska is poor due to little tax revenue except oil. With so much natural beauty, why can't Alaska further develop its tourism to make money? I love to visit Alaska.

Alaska is the barometer of Earth's future civilization. To drill for oil in Alaska is telling the world that we don't believe the thesis that the combustion of fossil fuels will warm the planet to a point that the permafrost in the Arctic will thaw and release billions of tons of methane into the atmosphere to create a self-sustaining warming of the Earth, that will be impossible to reverse and will end of life as we know it. It is foolish to ignore global warming. On the other hand, on the south coast of Alaska, there is a range of mountains where we can construct a 20-mile long vacuum tube that can be used to electrically launch a payload to geosynchronous orbit at less than 1% the cost of a chemical rocket launch. This launch facility can launch much more frequently and would make it feasible to create a system of solar collector satellites in orbit to collect the energy of the Sun 24/7, convert the energy to low-density microwave and beam to antennae fields on Earth and could be used to provide human populations very cheap electricity to compete with fossil energy for a very prosperous future. With cheap electricity, we can power machines to scrub the overly saturated atmosphere of carbon dioxide, desalinate water for agriculture, create synthetic jet fuel from air and water, and provide very cheap energy for industry, households and electric transportation. This system is described by Dr. James Powell in his book "Spaceship Earth, How Long Before We Crash?"

This is wonderful news; my only criticism is that it does not go nearly far enough. The only land the Constitution authorizes the federal government to 'own' is Washington, D.C. The entire National Park System (so called) should be immediately shut down, and the land returned to the several States, or, if they never had possession of it, simply given to them. Native Americans should be given serious consideration, too - their land was stolen from them. Does that include Yellowstone? Yes. I would START with Yellowstone.

What most people outside of Alaska don't understand is that our state government is funded solely on oil revenue. We have no other revenue source, no state income tax, no statewide sales tax, etc. so we are completely dependent on oil. Our legislature tried to pass revenue options in the last administration to no avail, but the conservative senate blocked it every time. Until Alaska has alternate revenue, the need for oil drilling is absolutely necessary to fund our schools, healthcare, roads, etc. While I disagree with drilling in this particular pristine wilderness area, we can maintain a balance with wilderness and people. Alaska (rural especially) is in desperate need of roads, schools, high speed internet, groceries, medical centers, things all of you take for granted as being 'next door' or a short drive. We all need to preserve wilderness & habitats all over, and Alaska is no exception.Sending reporters & photographers here to tell the story of our state seems silly when we have excellent reporters and photographers here already.Alaska wasn't popular for the outside media until Sarah Palin & climate change. Now that the world is paying attention to us, you need to listen & learn from people who actually live here.Hire people who actually live here, trust in people who live here.Many people, including myself don't agree with drilling in ANWR.We have climate action coalitions, & a legislature trying to pass progressive legislation.Those stories need to be told too.

"Come visit Anchorage. It's a nice city and you don't have to travel far from there to visit Alaska." This is what we tell friends from "outside" when they ask where to go in the state. These articles are well researched and seem to reflect what is happening. I am glad you flew to Fairbanks and also that you had someone reporting from the ground in Coldfoot. But, as we talk about the impact of loss of swathes of wilderness, it is essential that we talk to the people still most dependent on the land. Visit Fort Yukon or Arctic Village. Sit around a kitchen table and talk to people about their fear of losing a way of life. Visit Shishmaref, a village falling into the sea because of global warming. Drilling will bring some revenue to the state and the North Slope Regional Corporation but will continue the state's total dependence on an oil economy. This leaves behind many of those in "bush" Alaska. We need to hear their story too. No discussion of Alaska is complete without the voices of those who were here first.

Yes, it’s laughable that Alaskans don’t want outsiders telling them what to do. Just bring money...from outside- for exploration, for lobbying, for campaign contributions, ..... This president’s Team of Users strikes again.

We must all work to make sure this does not occur. Tell your reps.: The pristine wilderness is not for sale.

Go state to state to see what other damaging environmental undoings are happening under Trump and who benefits financially. thanks

A forsaken worthless hellhole and a perfect place for energy production so that your reporters could live in luxury eating salmon pate in Anchorage. You can't have one without the other.

FOUNTAIN You get a sense that Alaskans don’t want people outside of the state telling them what to do. They’re very proud of their state and all the incredible places they have. It’s huge, and most of it’s wild and great and beautiful. So there’s a real sense of, “We’re in Alaska; we want to do what we want to do.” This is the Cliven Bundy mentality writ large. It's federal land and they think it's theirs to trash because they are there and the "others" are not. Sorry, folks. Not the way it's supposed to work. Look at what happened to Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled its contents. Seals were gouging out their own eyes in fatal misery. The area is ruined forever. And don't even start with the energy independence argument. Big Oil will sell the oil from Alaska on the world market just like what happens to our fracking oil. Not to mention, but this is just another way for the hateful right wingers to punish Blue voters -- as with the plan to open up the entire west coast for offshore drilling. See the 1969 Santa Barbara oil disaster to understand why that offshore drilling has been banned. The plan to open the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge must be stopped; it's a crime against nature and the future.