I'd say this story is as left-winged as Bush is right winged.

I live in California - due to our stringent environmental policy we now have power blackouts because we can't produce enough electricity and the power we do get from other states is raping the pocketbooks of the citizens of california. California ranks 48th in the nation in power consumed per person. We're doing our part and now we have to learn to live without electricity. And since so much electricity is being generated from clean sources, like natural gas, there is now a shortage of that too and we're paying for it to heat our homes now.

As for ANWR - the refuge is 19 MILLION Acres - 1.5 Million would be open to exploration- that's 8% of the refuge - this area is located on the Northern side of Alaska - somewhere no one wants to live. Caribou have actually thrived from the protection of existing oil pipelines (heat) - so wildlife enjoys the benefits to oil transport. The Alaskans and Intuit support the exploration. There's a vast amount of oil there, from 9-16 Billion barrels.

I live in Long Beach - we manage to co-exist with oil wells everywhere. This knee-jerk reaction to 'saving our environment' is only due to not knowing all the facts and being closed minded about it. I ask all of you to attempt to educate yourself on the real facts.

I do consider myself to be an environmentalist - but I am also a realist - we need technological breakthroughs or miracles or we need a severe reduction in the population. There just isn't enough sun, wind, geothermal or other alternative power options to generate what we use. Maybe the whole country needs to try to reduce electric usage - maybe the car companies need to put into production that 200mpg carbeurator sitting in the Smithsonian Institute.

And don't forget that that Kyoto treaty exempts third world countries - those same countries that have faster rising populations than anywhere else. Those same countries that chop down their rainforests, slash and burn, get 1 or maybe 2 crops out of the soil and then its worthless so destroy some more. Do you think chopping down the rainforests is having any affect on rising CO2?

Canie

• Alaskan National Wildlife Preserve