ollection and processing of oil-soaked sands in Alberta. Within five years, the Canadian initiative will be producing more oil than theAlaskan North Slope (approximately one million barrels a day). Moreover, by the time theANWR drilling is expected to begin, Canadian production will probably be in full swing.The Alberta fields will be processing and distributing more oil daily than ANWR would atits peak, only for cheaper and at a closer distance to consumers.There is also concern over the environment. Environmentalists are none too pleasedabout having an industry, notorious for endangering the environment, drilling on a nationalwildlife reserve. While ANWR supporters have shown that indeed, herd sizes for severalindigenous species in the region have peaked in recent years near the drill sites,environmentalists were quick to point out that herd sizes are again on the decline. Thoughit is too early to tell whether this decline is really the product of human intervention, manyenvironmentally concerned citizens think of it as a warning sign.As the Senate begins to understand concerns voiced by the public on the issue, theyhave raised several questions with Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton. Among thesequestions included information related to the native Porcupine caribou herds that are in thearea. But the responses she provided to the Senate committee have set off a fury ofresentment among environmentalists, and have even raised a suspicious eye in the Press.To begin answering the questions, Gale had sought briefs from the agency in herdepartment that was in charge of the refuge; the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.The reply she provided to the Senate committee was shown, however, to be lacking a gooddeal of scientific data that the USFWS had provided her department. The Washington Postreports [Gale] left out the agency's scientific data that suggested caribou could beaffected by oil drilling, while including data that supported her...
