Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Oil Drill Proposal

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Department of the Interior (DOI), consists of 19 million acres in Alaska. Of the 19 million acres, 1.5 million acres in the north east portion of the coastal plain is said to be the most promising site for U.S. onshore oil drilling. The Refuge, especially the coastal plain, is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life in a nearly undisturbed state. (http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/04Jun/IB10111.pdf). To go into this area to drill would ruin the undisturbed feeling and threaten many animal species and their ecosystems.

In 1980 the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was passed by Congress designating more than 100 million acres in Alaska to national parks and wildernesses areas. Congress specifically left open the question of future management of the Coastal Plain because of its potentially enormous oil and gas resources leaving the possibility of drilling up to the people. (http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/factsheets/policy/Policy006.pdfpolicy/Policy006.pdf) Those drilling insist that the Arctic Refuge could be developed on as little as 2,000 acres within the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain. This is far from true because the U.S. Geological Survey discovered that oil drilling cannot be concentrated in a single area but rather spread out between more than 30 small deposits. This would require a drastic amount of new road and pipeline construction that would greatly impact the region. (http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/arctic.asp)

Not only would it be devastating to the environment but it would be extremely costly and inefficient. Americans consume roughly nine million barrels of oil a day just in their cars! (http://www.eia.doe.gov/basics/quickoil.html) At best, a five percent chance, drilling in the ANWR will recover 11.8 billion barrels. If this oil is used solely in our cars supplies will last roughly three and a half years. There is a 95 percent chance that drilling in the ANWR will recover only 4.25 billions of barrels lasting only 412 days! Permits for oil drilling increased from 3,802 per year in 2002 to 7,561 per year in 2007 but did not affect gas prices in a positive way. In 2007 profits totaled over $155 billion for big oil while gas prices continued to climb. (http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/policy_and_legislation/addressing_high_gas_prices.pdf) Drilling in the arctic is just another way for our government to support oil companies and avoid the actuality that green energy is essential for America.