On the topic of the proposed oil drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge I would like to share what I learned about HDD.

I spoke with this gentleman not to long ago. He was what some might call a typical Texan. He was a really nice fella; we talked about the proposed drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge.

When he got to that subject, I want to explain my displeasure of running a risk of ruining the refuge. I was quick to assume he was all for drilling. Considering he was an oil and cattleman from Central Texas.

Well to my surprise when the "drilling" word came up his face went sour. I was taken aback. He said, "It would be devastating if they did that!" He went on to tell me that he was a third generation oilman. He said "I am gonna tell you something that will surprise you." "Do you know how they are going to drill for that oil?" Of course I have no real clue. "They don't just drill vertically now days." He said with cautious voice. "They go in side ways now." He said, " It's called HDD, Horizontal Directional Drilling*."

He went on with an angry tone. He said he has seen large oil companies in Central Texas, try to buy up peoples land for drilling. If they refused to sell they would just buy the property next to the one they wanted and drill sideways into the neighbors land. The poor old guy would never know his neighbor was drilling underground sideways onto his property.

I told him, "Oh, no way." In disgust I closed my eyes and shook my head. I then said, "So, it's not just going to be 2000 acres is it?" He said, "No it 's not and they'll take all they can once they get in."

He finished off the conversation with, "It's not worth it."

"There's not even that much oil up there, to run the risk of ruining that wonderful place."

*HDD: Horizontal Directional Drilling, for a graphic and explanation, click here