Meet The Press

Somebody tell Tom Brokaw that there is no "Arctic National Wildlife Reserve." That term, which he has used repeatedly, describes a store of something to be used later. In Alaska, the public lands where the caribou calve, home to the Gwich'in people, are officially named the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." The word "refuge," in contrast to the word "reserve," aptly describes a land crucially relied upon by living things for their survival.

Mr. Brokaw's verbal slip betrays his disregard for these lands, and Maria Bartiromo's dismissal of the 2,000 acre oil extraction footprint there reveals their ignorance. The true impact of oil industry activities will spread out across the coastal plain.

Brokaw and Bartiromo should refrain from oil industry propaganda, and get the facts right before presuming to decide this issue for the American people. Considering the relentless oil industry ads aired by NBC during Meet The Press>>, which paint oil drilling as environmentally benign, it appears that Mr. Brokaw's professional integrity has been bought.