Rep. Young Takes Professor To Task Over ANWR Testimony

Oil Exploration Rig In ANWR Coastal Plain

A lot has been made of the back and forth between Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), and historian and Rice University Professor Douglas Brinkley regarding drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife refuge. The news reports and the progressive blogs have of course accused Rep. Young of "bullying" Dr. Brinkley.
What Rep. Young was doing was pointing out how Dr. Brinkley, and others like him, have characterized ANWR - as this pristine wilderness with majestic mountains, flowing streams, and wildlife that has been untouched by the evils of humans, and their technology. In fact, the area that has been set aside for drilling is a mere 3,000 acres out of 119 million acres. Certainly there are large portions of ANWR that have the breathtaking views that environmentalists describe, but these areas are not even visible from the area being discussed.
Many of the arguments being made today are very similar to the arguments made against the building of the Alaska oil pipeline. We were told that Caribou herds would have their migration routes blocked, causing the deaths of thousands, maybe even millions of these beautiful animals. However, once the pipeline was built it was discovered that the Caribou actually seemed to like the pipeline, especially the warm crude that flowed through it. Caribou could be seen congregating, and even mating around the pipeline. Apparently, they like a heated environment in cold weather just as much as we do.
So who is Douglas Brinkley. For certain, he is a well-respected and knowledgable man. But he is also way to the left on environmental matters. He has been the recipient of the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award and 2009 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. He buys into the now disproven scam about the dangers of DDT promoted by Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring", which has led to literally millions of unneeded deaths from malaria. In fact he has an upcoming book, Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Stewart Udall and the Environmental Movement 1961-1964 set to be released in the near future. He is a darling of the left, being embraced by "Think Progress" and "The Center For American Progress", both far-left/Marxist leaning groups.
Representative Young took Dr. Brinkley to task for testimony that he classified, in his opinion, as "garbage". He incorrectly addressed Mr. Brinkley as Dr. Rice (he is tenured at Rice University), at which point Mr. Brinkley not only tried to correct the Congressman, but went further, arrogantly saying to the Congressman, "“[It's] Dr. Brinkley. Rice is a university. I know you went to Yuba College and you couldn’t graduate.”
It went downhill from there.



Posted by Brian