The original premise of this entire opinion piece ("We understand that Alaska is better with oil than without") is unsubstantiated and is, in my humble opinion(my family has lived here for thousands of years), incorrect.   Alaska had fewer people and services/amenities, but it was also a much nicer place to live.  If you are going to make this assertion, you should at least present some logical analysis or some scientific rationale to justify the statement.  Without such evidence, the rest of your argument moot.