Lisa Murkowski’s Sept. 12 column, “North Slope seas contain oil and gas vital to US,” seems to channel Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign slogan, “Yes, we can.”

Alaska’s senior senator expressed confidence “subsistence activities and energy development CAN comfortably co-exist….offshore production CAN be safely conducted in Alaska’s federal waters….and the (Interior) department’s existing offshore plan CAN be confirmed.”

Alaska’s can-can girl also echoes what politicians were saying back when I lived in Fairbanks during the early pipeline days, “I strongly support RESPONSIBLE exploration and production in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas…. as much of (oil and gas) energy as possible should come from secure, reliable domestic sources that CAN be RESPONSIBLY produced.” (Emphasis mine)

When I lived in Fairbanks during the pipeline days, the politicians said they supported responsible development of Alaska natural resources, but, to my knowledge, none ever defined “responsible” development. Who decides what’s responsible? And what criteria do we use to determine what’s responsible? Do the guys doing the development get to decide what is and what is not responsible? And just who are the guys in favor of irresponsible development? We never did find out. I remember at times fighting off the temptation to ask those politicians if they favored responsible development of Alaska’s marijuana resources or were they extreme environmentalists?

Nor did any of the 1970s-era politicians who all said development CAN exist with subsistence and care for the environment ever say development WILL do so.

Funny, I don’t hear any of those politicians now warning that oil and gas consumption CAN be causing global warming. Nope, the politicians want absolute proof before they will let the government do anything about it.

The politicians want people with a maybe couple of hundred dollars in the bank to prove a clean Arctic won’t damage our eco(nomic) system rather than wanting Big Oil with zillions of dollars to prove Arctic drilling won’t damage our eco(logical) system.

Apparently, our politicians who call for a “level playing field” believe a fair fight is one between Mike Tyson and my 91-year-old friend Ruth as long as you bid Ruth’s hands and feet and provide Mike with bodyguards, brass knuckles, body armor, a couple of tanks and several neutron bombs.

So, here’s a request for Lisa and her cronies: Don’t tell me drilling CAN safely happen in the Arctic. Provide the same degree of proof that it WILL happen that you require of the link between oil and gas production and global warming.

As former Alaska legislator Jan Faiks (love that surname) once pointed out, tankers have made hundreds of trips through Prince William Sound without spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. The industry proved it COULD transport oil RESPONSIBLY and safely through a very vulnerable environment. And, for the most part, it did.

That may be good enough for Lisa and her cronies. But it’s not good enough for me.