When Hell Freezes Over, Drill It Too

That's what ANWAR looks like according to this editorial from Investor's Business Daily:

We already drill in Alaska. More than 15 billion barrels of oil have been sent down the Alaska pipeline from Prudhoe Bay, just 60 miles west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, over the last three decades, much more than the six months' supply predicted by critics.

As Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman notes, the development "footprint" would be minimal: "ANWR, in its totality, is about the size of South Carolina, and the area where we believe the hydrocarbons are located is about the size of Delaware, not to mention the exploration site would be no larger than about the size of (Boston's) Logan International Airport."

As for the "pristine" wilderness, the tiny portion of ANWR where drilling would occur is what hell would look like if it ever froze over. Winter on the coastal plain lasts for nine months. Total darkness reigns for 58 days. The temperature drops to 70 degrees below zero without the wind chill. Your spit freezes before it hits the ground.

Drill early, drill often and drill now. Set those oil rigs up so thick that ANWR looks like a porcupine's asshole during a quill eruption.