The Road to Nome-Where

The proposed highway would connect Fairbanks to Nome.

Sarah Palin is proposing a highway to Nome (a metropolis of 3,505 people), something no one wanted or asked for. This $2 billion boondoggle will cost $3 to $4 million per mile. She announced this ambitious plan when her state is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, due to declining demand and prices for oil.

To build this highway, five hundred miles of pristine wilderness, forest, tundra, rivers, valleys, and animal habitats would be destroyed.

Palin's transportation commissioner tried to sell the idea for the highway by saying: "Look at the map of Alaska, and what do you see in terms of roads? North and south, north and south. We've got nothing going west. And look at what we've got out there. All kinds of resources."

First, there is no hard evidence that lots of raw materials are underneath the surface of western Alaska. And even if there is, is it worth trashing the last bit of wilderness left in America for a few billion dollars of gold, copper, and uranium?

Another argument for the highway is that it will boost tourism and thus help the local poor. Yeah, just look at the tourist boom all the way along the Dalton Highway.

Is the highway a bad idea? You betcha (*wink*)!

CKY