Wilderness Society Lost in the Wilderness
I received the below press release from the Wilderness Society today, though I don't know how I got on their misinformation SPAM list. The Wilderness Society is spamming Americans trying to establish that this one small poll is indicative of the nation as a whole, labeling the answers under the guise of "the public believes." The poll was taken of 821 "Americans" who were so lonely they needed someone to talk to.
Even worse than that, the poll fails to ask the obvious questions such as would those being polled be for drilling if drilling could be done safely and protect wildlife and beautiful natural environments, as has been done for decades. It also failed to ask if those polled were OK with drilling if they thought the price of gas would cease going up. It also failed to ask if those being polled agreed with the ban on oil drilling in areas where China and Venezuela are drilling without the environmental safety concerns that would be used by US companies. In other words, are those being polled OK with those countries taking oil off our shorelines while we Americans cannot.
These type of bogus polls only hurt the cause of protecting the environment because they show a zero tolerance policy by environmental groups for anything that could be in the public's economic interest. They are extremist, plane and simple, and lead to people believing there is no middle ground, which isn't the case. The fact is that we can drill and protect the environment. It's been done for decades, can be done on a much broader scale, and could help our economy. Groups such as The Wilderness Society, though, are so left-wing in their beliefs that they can't understand reason. It's a shame, because some of those groups used to do some real good in the world before they themselves got lost in the wilderness.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 24, 2008
CONTACTS: Kathy Westra, The Wilderness Society, (202) 429-2642 or kathy_westra@tws.org
Cindy Shogan, Alaska Wilderness League, (202) 544-5205 or cindy@alaskawild.org
Americans Don’t Believe Bush, Industry Claims on Gas Prices, Poll Shows
Majority Says New Drilling Would Enrich Oil Companies Rather than Benefit Consumers,
and 76 Percent Support New Technology Development Over Drilling
Washington , DC
—The American public is not buying the arguments of President Bush and the oil industry that new drilling will lower gas prices, a new poll finds. Despite a well-funded campaign to convince lawmakers to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska
and the offshore waters of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling, and to allow new oil shale projects in the Rocky Mountain West, a majority (54%) of Americans do not see more drilling as a solution to high gas prices. Instead, the public overwhelmingly believes (76% to 19%) that policymakers should focus on investing in new energy technologies including renewable fuels and more efficient vehicles rather than expanding exploration and drilling for more oil. These findings were reported in a national poll conducted over the past week by Belden Russonello and Stewart, and released today.
When asked the question, “Do you think that allowing oil companies to drill in public lands and offshore areas that are currently off limits to drilling will result in lower gas prices for American consumers or not?”, 54% of poll respondents said they did not believe more drilling would lower gas prices. Although Americans were initially divided on a general question of opening protected public lands and offshore areas to drilling, with a slight majority (53%) in favor, and 41% opposed, the poll found that support for drilling weakened significantly when those polled were presented with other energy policy options. When asked the question: “Looking to the future, which one of the following do you think should be a more important priority for government: Investing in new energy technology including renewable fuels and more efficient automobiles, or expanding exploration and drilling for more oil?”, more than three-quarters (76%) of respondents favored new technology and renewables, and only a small number (19%) favored expanded oil drilling.
###
The poll, conducted by Washington , D.C.
± 3.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. A copy of the complete survey is attached.
Drew F. Bush
Communications Associate
The Wilderness Society
Phone: (202)-429-7441
Fax: (202)-429-3945
The Wilderness Society's mission is to protect wilderness
and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.
????
Posted by: lixie | 23 October 2008 at 05:07 PM
????
Posted by: lixie | 23 October 2008 at 05:08 PM
i think it can be done safetly. but there is always a chance for bad things to happen.
Posted by: oilfield equipment | 12 April 2009 at 06:40 PM