I have to respectfully disagree with your thoughts that the audience Will is targeting is environmentalists. I think Will is trying to re-enforce the beliefs of those already, or close to, being on board for drilling in Alaska. The way that the essay reads to me, I think that Will is making an effort to discredit the arguments used by environmentalists. An example of this is when Will describes Indonesia's Lippo Group as "the heavy contributor to Clinton" (Wills p. 128). This description provides no value outside of discounting the decision made by the Clinton administration to limit coal mining in Utah to provide more businesses for the Lippo Group.
Will uses a number of sarcastic comments against the beliefs of environmentalist