Drilling the Arctic

It appears that the Bush administration will get its wish, and drilling will be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The administration has argured that this is an essential step to assuring that America will become less dependant on Middle Eastern oil. Of course rather mild measures at energy efficency, such as raising CAFE standards for automobiles or subsidizing energy efficeent appliances would be far more effective.
Despite enviromentaist's arguments to the contary, it is actually rather unclear what the effects upon wildlife in the refuge will be. In fact it is unclear weather there will be any drilling at all. Although it is assumed that any oil there may be recovered profitably, the site has not been surveyed in decades. It may turn out that the massive expenses of doing heavy industral work thousands of miles away from any major city is just unprofitable, even at today's high oil prices.
Either way its amazing that our government would actually allow oil exploration, the dirtiest of industrial activites, in an area specifically designed to protect wildlife.