We Cannot Tell A Lie

And to be fair and balanced, we cannot tell the truth, either. Our Interior Secretary talks to the Heritage Foundation. Washington Post (12.13.05):

"Interior Secretary Gale Norton, campaigning to win oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, had the urgency of a saleswoman falling short of her monthly quota. 'ANWR would supply every drop of petroleum for Florida for 29 years,' she told a friendly audience at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, 'New York for 34 years, Illinois for 43 years, California for 16 years or New Hampshire for 315 years.'" Arctic Oil Gets an Administration Gusher

"So how many years would ANWR's oil keep the whole country fueled up?" "Norton balked at the question. 'When you look at it for the whole country, you really get somewhat of a deceiving picture,' the secretary answered." Somewhat deceiving? "For the record, ANWR's oil, using the administration's own estimates, would supply the whole country for 13 to 17 months before it runs out." And that's it. A year. Year and a half, tops. We figure that ANWR would supply all of us Knobs with every drop of petroleum we'd need for at least a skillion years. And that's a pretty long damned time. Next up, the Secretary of Labor. Washington Post (12.13.05):

"In the afternoon, it was Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's turn. At a news conference at the National Press Club, Chao told the cameras that, according to 'congressional estimates,' the ANWR project could create a million jobs." A million jobs? Chao repeated the forecast to incredulous reporters after the event." Arctic Oil Gets an Administration Gusher

"'Congress has made estimates that about a million people will be involved,' she affirmed." "Is that over the life of the project? 'I don't think so,' Chao said. 'That's probably over a year or so.'" Then again, it may not be. "A million jobs in one year would be so compelling that even environmental groups might be willing to chase the caribou out of ANWR. But Chao was a bit off." The Congressional Research Service has "put the job growth in the range of 86,000 to 245,000." The million jobs figure comes "from a conservative think tank and was based on a far larger project than the ANWR drilling." Our figures show ANWR would create a bajillion jobs, give or take a few gazillion.