OPINION/COMMENTARY

Goodbye ANWR, Hello Nukes

I hope environmentalists have learned a lesson from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) vote. ANWR held up President George Bush's energy bill for three years. Conservatives claimed--correctly--that drilling wouldn't have the slightest impact on the 19-million-acre wilderness. As supporters have been pointing out for almost a decade, the entire drilling operation would occupy only 2,000 acres, about the size of Dulles Airport. But Democrats hung on anyway, calling ANWR the "crown jewels of America" and conjuring images of grimy oil derricks fouling pristine nature. Then, suddenly, drilling in the ANWR passed the Senate last month. Sure there was the usual parliamentary maneuvering but very little public protest from environmentalists. What happened?....

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