The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been a hotbed of controversy over the past few years. Environmentalists have been fearful of its immediate well being and long-term future ever since George W Bush took office, insinuating that an oil magnate like he would think nothing of exploiting the petroleum wealth hidden beneath one of America’s last true wildernesses. Their fears are now coming to fruition with key congressional activities taking place over the coming months. In its tentative 2006 budget the Senate included provisions that would open up ANWR to drilling and they are attempting to coerce the House into adding the same to their version of the 2006 budget.

With this major revision to environmental practices expected to occur, the multitude of environmental groups, led by the Audubon Society and Sierra Club, are ramping up their efforts to prevent it. They are now funding substantial mass marketing efforts and are hoping to incite grassroots activist movements in order to get Americans to ask their congressfolk that they vote "no" for this budget and the subsequent ANWR drillings.

In years past, the outcome of these efforts would have been a no-brainer. The environmentalists would have easily won over public sentiment and victory would be theirs. Fortunately, for Americans as a whole, the concerns of the upper echelon of these groups have not trickled down to the lowest levels of the environmental movement as a whole. In regards to ANWR, the affinity to side with the hardcore environmentalists has been cast aside by most long time supporters and laymen alike. In this case these former supporters have deemphasized their traditional importance placed upon animals and plants. They have supplanted emotion with logic, placing the human world above the natural world. The reasoning is simple…the strain placed upon the pocketbook. Environmentalists are no different than you and I. They, too, are consumers. They, too, are hurting.

Escalating prices for petroleum-based products, be it gasoline, heating fuels, or plastics have hurt all levels of the US economy and will continue to do so for quite sometime, if not forever. Just a half-dozen years ago, $3.50 for a gallon of gasoline or 70 cents for a pound of plastic would have been thought unbelievable. Now, its par for the course. No consumer can take this in stride. Whether these prices plateau at these unprecedented levels or continue to rise - the latter being expected - the strain is unbearable. Discretionary income is dropping and inflation and recession are always looming on the horizon.

Due to the laws of supply and demand there is no end in sight to these prices. The United States population is expected to grow by over ten percent every decade. As if that’s not enough, the middle classes are growing exponentially in India and China thanks to the impact of global trade. These are the two most populous nations on this planet, supporting well over 1 billion people each. Their demands for natural resources will become insatiable and utterly impossible to maintain. There’s only so much petrol to go around.

We are truly amidst a never-ending energy crisis. All Americans recognize this and are demanding change. We need to escape the current situation that has us nearly sixty percent dependent on foreign oil. We need some semblance of self-sufficiency so that we don’t become an afterthought to the Chinas and Indias of this world. We need to cut costs before we price our economy out of existence.

Congress has finally come to grips with this dire situation and, fortunately for all, will act upon opening ANWR in the coming months. Doing so offers some hope and will ultimately appease manufacturers, distributors, consumers, and, deep down inside, even the most hardcore environmentalists.