Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, December 9, 1986
4
Opinion
America’s insatiable lust for oil
The drilling site at Alas
ka’s Prudhoe Bay, the origin
of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline,
is a shining example of oil
company concern for the en
vironment. After 15 years of
effort, even environmental
ists are pleased with the re
sult. Wildlife and oil produc
tion flourish in harmonious
coexistence.
balance. Mark Troutwein, a consultant to the
House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environ
ment, told Time magazine, “The area is a priceless
wildlife resource that can’t tolerate airstrips and
pipelines without a serious loss of quality.”
Even if exploratory drilling in the Arctic refuge
is approved by Congress, it could be 10 years be
fore environmental impact studies can be com
pleted and before wells actually can be drilled.
knows no boundff*
Tr
Americans would rather sacrifice a few
tundra and a few head of caribou (what ait
good for anyway?) than increase our depei
on foreign oil exports.
Loren
Steffy
Airstrips and pipelines are just the beginning.
At the very least, roads would have to be built to
make the area accessible, drilling rigs would have
to be erected, pipelines laid, storage tanks built
and wells constructed to continue tapping the oil.
But in the crude world of
oil production, environmen
tal concerns are not always given top priority. Last
ing impact on the environment is often diminished
in importance to get at oil reserves. Our insatiable
lust for our favorite natural resource, the “bubblin’
crude” of Jed Clampett’s dreams, has no ecological
conscience.
Unlike its Prudhoe Bay neighbor, the Arctic ref
uge’s coastal plain is one-third as wide as the bay’s,
and the caribou herd, which migrates to the refuge
to calve, is 15 times larger than Prudhoe Bay’s.
The initial study, completed by the Fish and
Wildlife Services, acknowledged that the environ
ment would be affected but still advocated opening
the land up to the oil companies.
When it comes to wildlife preservation, espe
cially in Alaska, the administration’s decisions have
been well-oiled — the scent of crude is overpower
ing. A little more than a year ago, the Assistant In
terior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wil
liam P. Horn tried unsuccessfully to turn the St.
Matthew Island Wildlife Refuge into an oil base.
But arguments that the United Statesned
domestic oil to lessen its dependence on
lions are flimsy at best. Although thepro|
field might decrease our reliance on other
it would not eliminate it. Dependingondi
oil only gets us out of OPEC’s frying panaidi
our own oil-fed fire. Sooner or later, thedcq
oil is going to run out
preserves.
the
East of Prudhoe Bay, in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, the priorities have been reversed.
The refuge’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, which
provides shelter for musk oxen, polar bears,
wolves, golden eagles and caribou, is believed to
conceal as much as 5 billion to 30 billion barrels of
oil and 64.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
While the initial, exploratory drilling may not
disrupt the environment, once oil is discovered,
the site undoubtedly will become a chaotic arena of
bulldozers, trucks and other diesel-powered ma
chinery. Serenity and clean air will, at least tempo
rarily, be lost.
Developing an oil field in the Arctic refuge
could seriously destabilize the delicate ecological
Naturally, the U.S. Department of the Interior
sided with the salivating petroleum companies and
against the wildlife. This typifies the predominant
national attitude and painful policy of the Reagan
administration, and it has become a national op
portunity cost — crude versus conservation. In
America, though, nothing comes between us and
our oil dependence — not alternative sources of
energy and certainly not wildlife reserves. We drill
first and try to save endangered species later.
The Interior Department’s sympathies with the
oil industry are no secret. The first two points of
Interior Secretary Donald P. Model’s “five-part
mission” — 1) “preserving the nation’s national
park, wilderness and wildlife resources” and 2)
“enhancing our ability to meet energy needs with
domestic resources” — are colliding in the Alaskan
wilderness. Considering that Model also used to be
secretary of energy, it’s little surprise that oil in
dustry interests would be so well preserved.
even underneath *W5
ante at
Qliestio
sponsor
Meanwhile, the oil companies continueit |;|rhe ;
up vital wildlife refuges with the InteriorDc p ^ ’ 1
ment's blessing. It's unfortunate that not alSP ' n<
den lands are as stable as Prudhoe Bay, 1
unfortunate that not all oil companies aresj
cerned with preserving a delicate envirom
balance as they are with extracting their:
from the land.
The more than 104 million acres of federal
lands in Alaska that Congress set aside in 1980 are
some of the few remaining untouched wildlife pre
serves that America has left. But the Arctic refuge
is, after all, on the frozen northern coast of Alaska
— not exactly a hotbed of social concern. Most
With national opinion, oil interests and
federal government favoring oil productiot
wildlife conservation, our precious "blackyoi
America’s favorite national resource — soot
become our only national resource.
Loren Steffy is a senior journalism mijom
Opinion Page editor for The Battalion.
From the halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli,
We will fill the void in leadership.
To indulge our fantasies.
First to right for
numbered bank accounts.
And to keep our money clean,
I am TW'ond to he the fall £uv for
The
a #
Mail Call
Way to go Clements
EDITOR:
Well, well, well. It seems Bill Clements is having second thoughtsaboul
his campaign promises. No sooner did he promise that he had a “secretplan
for balancing the budget, without raising taxes, than he conceded that Gov,
Mark White probably was right after all.
Geez, Bill Clements, this is a helluva time to change your mind,seeing
that you’ve already been elected.
Robert Dowdy
Those informative plates
Let athletes rob stores and
they won't need money
I wish I could
give you names
here, but I can’t.
As one of my
sources for this
story said, “Print
my name and I
could get lyn-
ched.”
But this isn’t
about political cor-
ruption or arms
shipments to Iran
Lewis
Grizzard
or even insider stock trading.
This is more important. It’s about col
lege football.
You know the stink about collegiate
athletes goofing around and not going
to class and not getting their degrees.
A lot of righteous people have spoken
out about this.“We’re exploiting these
kids,” they say.
Well, here’s one about an exploited
athlete.
university. He is of the all-American va
riety.
There was talk over the summer he
might not be able to make his grades
and be eligible to play fall quarter.
Somehow, however, he muddled
through during summer school.
And what a season he has had so far.
He will be a first round choice in the up
coming National Football League draft.
After that, his agent will negotiate a
huge contract for him, and he will be
come an instantly wealthy 21-year-old.
So what’s he doing about his educa
tion?
“And he’s not worried about being in
school winter quarter?”
“Why should he be? His agent will
keep giving him living expenses until
the draft, and after that he’ll be making
too much money to fool around with
school.”
“But aren’t his coaches worried about
his education?”
Nothing. Zilch.
As in, so my sources tell me,
hasn’t set foot in a classroom all fall.
He
“What are they going to do, kick him
off the team because he isn’t going to
class? The coaches win games, and they
get to keep their jobs. They kick their
star player off the team, and they’re sell
ing mobile homes this time next year
while the kid is driving around in a new
Porsche.”
“He’s not worried about flunking
out?”
He is a star football player at a large
“Of course not. By the time his flunk
ing grades are posted, the regular sea
son will be over and he will still be eligi
ble for a bowl game, too, because it will
be played before winter quarter begins.”
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school
year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, Department of Journalism, Texas
A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4 111.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
TER . Send address c ha “ -
“I see your point.”
“This entire problem could be solved
if we’d simply forget all this bull about
scholar/athletes and put college players
on the payroll like the pros do.
“If they wanted to use some of their
money to go to school in the off season,
then great. If not, the school still makes
a bundle, the alumni are kept happy,
and the kids get paid for busting their
butts for the good of State U.”
“But isn’t there a better way to do this
than by paying collegiate players sala
ries? Doesn’t this impugn the purity of
collegiate sports?”
“There is one other way.”
“What’s that?”
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, De
partment of Journalism, Texas A&M University, College Station
TX 77843-4 111.
“Give every player his own conve
nience store and let him rob it any time
he wants to.”
Copyright 1986, Cowles Syndicate
EDITOR:
Why have the rear window plates — telling us what shuttlebusve’re
about to board — been removed? They certainly were a convenience.Whv
remove something useful? Walking to the front of the bus to read the
nameplate or being forced to ask a bystander for the name of thebusisfo
trating.
Rachel N. Mohr
More phoney business
EDITOR:
Registering by phone was a very depressing waste of time onoff-canf
phones, but registration officials did not mention this to many off-campus
Aggies.
I wasted four and a half hours on a 764-prefix phone with my fingero:
the redial button, but I got only busy signals. A trip over to campuswase«:
more of an inconvenience because each phone had a dozen studentswaim;
in line.
1 agree that the system is better because we do not have to stand outside
the cold weather, but on the other hand, if there is a way to assign a differs
prefix than the ones for the phones on campus, then they should do it.Th 1
way everyone would have an equal chance. Also, since some studentsareif
all night, why not extend the system’s hours to accommodate these student
when there may not be such a rush.
Jeanette Breton
The fable of Karl the Terrible
EDITOR:
Once upon a time there was a journalism student who was writingfor^
school newspaper at a large southwestern university. This universitywas
loved by more students and former students than any other. This school
deserved a more talented and professional columnist working forthe
newspaper. It seems that this person’s name was Karl.
Karl, you see, was an idealistic, a romantic. He thought Utopia was
achievable, and he was going to be the founder of this new civilization,
though there would be no need for trouble-shooting super-journalistsin
Utopia, this is what Karl thought he should pretend to be workingtoward
In reality, Karl was only after fame and fortune. That’s right, just likeDi
Rather, Walter Cronkite and Sam Donaldson (all biased, opinionated
reporters).
“That’s for me,!” Karl said.
So Karl decided to go to college after high school. When he startedItf
the possible schools, he thought of his favorite ones —Berkely, KentStaif
University of Chicago and, of course, the local, radical University ofTe^
“All good choices,” Karl thought. But he realized one importantthinf
“If I go to one of these schools. I’ll be NORMAL (relative to the others)!
So Karl, possessing some foresight, decided he should be different
outspoken and a troublemaker if he wanted to be noticed. Forget aboul
writing interesting, legitimate stories.
He decided to go to that peaceful, conservative bastion known foriti
engineering and agriculture, Texas A&M.
“At this school I’ll be noticed. I won’t even have to write good materia
be seen!” he said.
So, Karl put his plan into motion three years ago. He is really stirrinj
those Aggies up by “kicking” around the things they hold dear. Karldidi 1
even have to write anything worthwhile, just criticize and belittle the
tradition and customs.
Just remember how Karl got started and keep this in mind when you*
Dan Rather or others telling you that “something is wrong, believe me! |
instead of reporting only the facts and figures.
Bryan Jones ’87
Editor’s Note: Actually, Karl’s “plan” was put in motion about fourw\
years ago. Pardon us for being technical, we’re just trying to report tk-
P
Hi.
- i
\ty (
3
esit'f
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves' ;: l
to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author- ^
Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephonen
the writer.