While reading the first paragraph in the column by Elizabeth Morrison on Nov. 17 about opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, I was enthusiastic that it was about Alaska. This enthusiasm soon turned to disappointment about the falsehoods that appeared before me. To a person who is not from the state of Alaska, it may seem like an atrocity is being committed right before our very eyes. I, however, could read this column and see the fallacies Ms. Morrison placed before the reader as truth.

She leads the reader to believe that 90 million acres are going to be used for this oil drilling equipment. These indigenous people she cited as wanting to preserve their way of life are located 150 miles away in Arctic Village. The Eskimos who live on Barter Island in the village of Kaktovik, who are going to be affected directly, have not voiced a negative opinion on the matter.

She does bring to light a very important concern -- the animals. She, however, again forgot to check her facts. Grizzly bears are found in the mountainous region (the Brooks Range) of the ANWR. The ANWR drilling is proposed to take place on the coastal region where very few grizzly bears make their home due to the inability of finding food. The musk oxen have been extinct in that area for at least 50 years. The ones that have been located there are there on an experimental basis, funded by the University of Alaska, which receives a lot of funding from the oil companies.

The point Ms. Morrison seems to portray to the reader as being very important to her cause is the 180,000 caribou. This argument has been heard by Alaskans before in the plans of building of the Trans Alaskan Pipeline. This was a legitimate concern at that time. Since that time, the Prudue Bay caribou herd has almost doubled in its size. This should dispel the myth.

I was happy to see a column on a state I have called home for 18 years, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had been factually based. I don't believe people who live in the continental United States fully understand the dependence that people (including the native population) have on the oil revenues. This is how our state makes money, not unlike how Iowa makes its money by farming. But I do not hear anyone complaining about a farm selling its land to make a highway.

People should look at what is happening here in their own backyards. Alaska is one of the last places on earth anyone needs to worry about being overrun by big business; the federal government controls the majority of the land. What is not controlled by the federal government is controlled by the state or the native corporations. What small amount of land that is left over is privately owned by people who enjoy the natural resources that they themselves protect. Ms. Morrison has a right to her opinion, but she could have supported her argument better by selecting material that was not outdated and irrelevant to the issue.