I hope my last post didn't come across as TOO arrogant or divisive. I'm enjoying this conversation and everything offered by all of you, because resource management is an issue close to my soul. But yes, having worked both the development and conservation sides, I'm proud of Alaska's stewardship record.

Hippie, I've never understood the push for sewage treatment vs. septic. Sure, in a high-density application like urban developments it's the only option, but in small towns and suburbia, leeching seems like a far more responsible choice. Why the push?

I hope my last post didn't come across as TOO arrogant or divisive. I'm enjoying this conversation and everything offered by all of you, because resource management is an issue close to my soul. But yes, having worked both the development and conservation sides, I'm proud of Alaska's stewardship record.

Hippie, I've never understood the push for sewage treatment vs. septic. Sure, in a high-density application like urban developments it's the only option, but in small towns and suburbia, leeching seems like a far more responsible choice. Why the push?

Heaven-On-Earth? So heaven is frozen 6, 7, 8 months a year? There is a reason there are hardly any people here. Even less, in the armpit.

My only question about the demand for big development in wild places is why don't people just move to New Jersey, instead of demanding that New Jersey move to Heaven-On-Earth?

I didn’t know New Jersey had any gold mines

In all seriousness though PA, it’s because we love to live here, but we also like having groceries, vehicles, fuel, and modern buildings. And those require money, infrastructure and jobs. Really though, I’m not sure you understand the scale we enjoy here. We can put in a 5-acre oil pad in the middle of a million acres of wilderness, that makes several million dollars a year and employs dozens of people who are therefore able to afford to live here. Mines use a little bit more space, but have a shorter life and are reclaimed more easily. Some have roads, many are fly-in only, and use winter ice roads or barges for freight.

And the reason it will never turn into New Jersey is that there is very little private land in AK. The vast majority of resource extraction is on government-held land, under a permitting system that specifically prohibits residential use and permanent construction. I could show you old capped oil wellheads in overgrown swamps that you’d never know were there unless you tripped over them. You’d be surprised how fast it goes back to “pristine.”

when I was working pipeline in Pa in 2012 I was impressed by the smallmouth numbers in the Susquehanna . it blew my mind how many ten pound channel cats where in that river . and the locals threw them back calling them trash