DRILLING FOR OIL

DRILLING FOR OIL

Administration efforts to reduce unemployment were proceeding reasonably well until disaster struck with the loss of eleven lives and the destruction of BP's deep water dynamic positioned drill platform.Suddenly the sleeping giant was awakened and public outrage is making life uncomfortable for the drilling company and for the Administration as well.
This may be the moment for which Alaskans have been waiting. Rather than infuriating public opinion with proposals for drilling within ANWR itself, the construction of gravel islands in the shallow waters outside the refuge may solve the PR dilemma.
Construction of gravel islands was used by Sohio in the mid 1980's and by the Canadians in the waters off Tukiuktuk just east of ANWR. In the interveneing twenty-five years since Sohio's test holes in Harrison Bay, our capacity to dredge and move huge quanities of sand and gravel from the ocean floor has increased exponentially.
The Obama administration is now desperate to find safe and well documented drilling methods that can be substituted to take up the slack caused by BP's deep water disaster. Thousands of good paying jobs are at stake and we have reached the limit as far as extending unemployment compensation.
The time is now for the Alaska Congressional delegation to use their creative energies to fashion a proposal that does not fly in the face of American public opinion.Obviously the drilling industry is still on the steep portion of the learning curve for deep water wellheads. As tragic as the BP disaster is, including the loss of eleven lives in that explosion, it provides an opportunity for Alaska to create jobs in large numbers using safe and proven state of the art drilling procedures.
America needs to shake loose from the paralysis that has set in from the gulf coast problems and awakent to the bright prospects which Alaska has to offer. Building gravel islands outside the boundary of ANWR is not inexpensive, but compared to the cost that BP is facing from their monumental oil spill, the dredging expense in
Alaskan waters would appear miniscule. There is also the possibility of connecting to the Canadian pipeline at Tukiuktuk to transport the product to midwest refineries.
Gaining an audience with the Obama administration for presentation of such a proposal may be the closest demonstration of George Tenet's use of the term "slam dunk".

Richard Todd June 12, 2010 Dutch Harbor, Alaska