George Will is advocating immediate drilling in ANWR. He starts out with the, mostly unreported, truth that this plot of land is small and god-forsaken, but his more interesting point is exposing the “environmentalists” by calling them what they are: collectivists.

A quarter of a century of this tactic applied to ANWR is about 24 years too many. If geologists were to decide that there were only three thimbles of oil beneath area 1002, there would still be something to be said for going down to get them, just to prove that this nation cannot be forever paralyzed by people wielding environmentalism as a cover for collectivism.

He makes some sense, but as usual I have a slightly different take. The oil in ANWR is a valuable National Security resource. Opening up the area for drilling is a great idea as long as the recovered oil is reserved for true emergencies. It should not be simply handed over to oil companies in order to lower prices or any other such nonsense.

In the event of a terror strike that cripples ME oil production, we will need this reserve quickly. It should be developed and then held in reserve. Too bad the political pressure to simply squander this important resource will be overwhelming.


Update: Tagged to basil's lunch