Rosen claimed that ANWR drilling "is not going to affect wildlife"

Summary: Arguing with a caller about proposed oil drilling in part of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, Newsradio 850 KOA's Mike Rosen claimed that drilling in Area 1002 "is not going to affect wildlife," described the region as "the hellhole part of Alaska," and asserted to the caller, "There would be no loss." In fact, the U.S. Department of the Interior has stated that Area 1002 is "the most biologically productive part of the Arctic Refuge for wildlife and is the center of wildlife activity."

Referring to the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as "the hellhole part of Alaska," Newsradio 850 KOA's Mike Rosen asserted on his March 27 broadcast that oil drilling proposed for that area "is not going to affect wildlife." Rosen also told a caller he was arguing with about drilling in ANWR, "You are creating a paradise where there exists no paradise in this tiny fraction of Alaska that would be open to drilling, the 1002 Area. There would be no loss." But Rosen omitted that the federal government has stated that the 1002 Area "is the most biologically productive part" of the ANWR.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's website about ANWR:

The 1002 Area, 1.5 million acres of the refuge's coastal plain, has long been a subject of controversy. The area includes habitat important to the Porcupine and Central Arctic Caribou Herds, as well as many other species. It may also contain significant quantities of oil and gas. In 1980, the U.S. Congress mandated studies of the petroleum potential and biological resources of the area. Today, the refuge conducts ongoing biological studies of the 1002 Area as the development debate continues.

Further, according to the "Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement" issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior to Congress in April 1987, "The 1002 area is the most biologically productive part of the Arctic Refuge for wildlife and is the center of wildlife activity." The assessment continued:

It serves as an important calving ground for the Porcupine caribou herd; it contains a high percentage of the refuge's observed muskoxen range; it is an important fall staging area for lesser snow geese; it provides nesting habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds; and it is frequently used by denning polar bears from the Beaufort Sea population. Migrating caribou and the postcalving caribou offer an extraordinary spectacle. The area presents many opportunities for scientific study of a relatively undisturbed ecosystem.

Rosen's description of ANWR's 1002 Area as a "hellhole" parroted comments made by National Review Online editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg in an August 6, 2001, NRO article -- republished on the magazine's website March 18, 2005 -- titled, "Ugh, Wilderness! The horror of 'ANWR,' the American elite's favorite hellhole." Goldberg wrote:

There's little doubt that for much of human history most reasonable people would have considered this spot the definition of the word "godforsaken." You need not look back, for evidence, to the ancient pilgrims who died on the frozen tundra. You could simply read an old copy of the Washington Post from 14 years ago: "[T]hat part of the [ANWR] is one of the bleakest, most remote places on this continent, and there is hardly any other where drilling would have less impact on the surrounding life."

Rosen's comments also echoed those of 1310 KFKA host and Independence Institute Director of Operations Amy Oliver, who on her February 5 broadcast agreed with Weld County Commissioner William "Bill" Jerke's (R) contention that drilling for oil in ANWR "would have absolutely no impact" by saying that there was "nothing there to impact."

From the March 27 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

CALLER: I worked on a fishing boat in Alaska --

ROSEN: Mmm-hmm.

CALLER: -- and, you know, I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, you look at the depletion of the tundra itself and the global warming that's destroying the tundra --

ROSEN: Global warming isn't destroying the tundra, and you and I are operating under a different set of assumptions in that regard, too. I think global warming is one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on our public policy agenda in, certainly in my lifetime. So, you and I are not proceeding from the same assumptions, but let's talk a little bit more about this Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. There's a myth that's grown up about this; to hear environmental absolutists and those taken in by their propaganda sing its praises, you'd think this place is some kind of an idyllic retreat for nature lovers. Well, you'd be wrong.

ROSEN: Jonah Goldberg, who we've had on the program frequently -- he's is an editor at National Review Online -- this was his observation of the area after being there firsthand, and I've talked to other people who've been there as well: "If you wanted a picture to go with the word 'godforsaken' in the dictionary, this would be the picture that you'd have." He described "a dismal, treeless, coastal plain where winters last for nine months punctuated by 58 consecutive days of total darkness and temperatures dropping to 70 degrees below zero. The highlight of the all-too-brief summer is the infestation of frenzied, caribou-eating mosquitoes spawned from puddles of free-standing water in the flat tundra as far as the eye can see. Washington Post described it 14 years ago: 'That part of ANWR is one of the bleakest, most remote places on this continent ... there's hardly any other area where drilling would have less impact on surrounding life.' " There are certainly parts of Alaska that are pristine and beautiful. This isn't one of them. It doesn't need to be protected the way you want to protect it.

CALLER: Well, I think what that's coming down to is that just because it's not accessible, so to speak, to human tourists that go up there that spend thousands of dollars to look at the glaciers and stuff like that and spend two weeks on a cruise boat --

ROSEN: But that's not the part of Alaska we're talking about. We're talking about the hellhole part of Alaska.

CALLER: But what I'm sayin' is when these big oil companies -- and I work for one. I work for one right now.

ROSEN: That's all right for me. Somebody's got to work for them, and we need oil. I'm glad we have them.

CALLER: That's right, I understand that we need oil. But there's other places that we can go that it's not going to affect wildlife and stuff --

ROSEN: This is not going to affect wildlife. That is my position. Listen, I can't expand on what I've already said. You have heard Jonah Goldberg's description of it; I concur. You are creating a paradise where there exists no paradise in this tiny fraction of Alaska that would be open to drilling, the 1002 Area. There would be no loss. And no tourists ever want to see it, because it's not worth seeing.

—C.K.