There are at least five and as many as sixteen billion barrels of oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Thanks to 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, much of that oil has been unlocked and is about to do some serious good.

Put that together with the hydraulic fracturing revolution, and the dream of an energy-independent America is finally within our grasp.

That’s good news for America and for the environment, but the big Green Left is having a conniption.

Wednesday, CFACT’s Adam Houser testified at a hearing before the Bureau of Land Management.

The oil industry has minimal impact on Alaskan wildlife. Oil and gas facilities are excellent neighbors. Houser explained that, “concerns of environmental or wildlife impact were raised when the Trans-Alaska pipeline was proposed. But years later, the pipeline has proved to be reliably safe, while providing much needed energy for our nation. For example, the Prudhoe Bay oilfield’s Central Arctic caribou herd is over 20,000 today, compared to 5,000 in 1975.”

Houser reports that, “Glen Solomon, a resident of the village of Katovik in ANWR, provided testimony in support of oil and gas development on behalf of his community. Turning to the environmental activists, he chided them for opposing measures that would help his community climb out of poverty. At one point he pleaded with them to stop their ‘Eco-Colonialism.'”

Wildlife and the oil industry get along fine. The animals just go on with their routines. In contrast, if you erected millions of solar panels and tens of thousands of wind turbines in Alaska, that enormous footprint would actually cause wildlife to pack it up and hoof it elsewhere.

Making ANWR oil available is a big step forward for America and all who wish renewed strength to the land of the free.

The caribou and their wild friends will never know the difference, but we will.