Joe Lieberman: “According to the Native Americans, the impact of oil drilling has been ``far reaching.'' They provide some specific…”

“According to the Native Americans, the impact of oil drilling has been ``far reaching.'' They provide some specific statements: Our ability to hunt and gather traditional foods has been severely impacted. Development has increased the smog and haze in our sky, affecting our health as well as the beauty of our land sea and air. Obviously, the people of Nuiqsut do not believe they have benefited from oil exploration, and they hope we will learn a lesson from their experience. We have also been asked to conclude that the wildlife in the reserve will interact happily with oil pipelines if they are built there. A picture was shown the other day of bears. I was advised that the bears in the pictures were not stuffed animals. Indeed, they were not. Unlike stuffed animals, they need real wilderness habitat to survive. I received a letter over the weekend from Mr. Ken Whitten, a retired Alaska State fish and game biologist who worked 24 years on the North Slope. Mr. Whitten felt compelled to respond to the proponents of drilling and specifically to the picture of a mother bear and cubs shown last week. I quote from the letter: Most bear cubs that have grown up in the oil fields have eventually been shot as problem bears, either in the oil field support area or at isolated villages and camps outside the oil field. Thus, the story of the three bears in the photo does not have a fairy tale ending.”