You'll note a plethora of emotional rhetoric and a dearth of empirical data cited by our anti-ANWR op-ed writers. That's the sad reality they face when confronted with 40 years worth of scientific studies focused on development and its impact to the Arctic environment across the oil patch which counter their tenderly-written hyperbole.  

Even anecdotal evidence fails to support their cause as caribou search out gravel pads and roads as insect relief areas or Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears den at gravel pads and landfill sites. Nor do the vast majority of Inupiat people (who actually live on and adjacent to the coastal plain) share their views.

And interestingly enough, many of the most vocal opponents derive a portion of their living from guiding and so-called "eco tourism" in ANWR.