Will Drilling in the ANWR Really Help?
In this world, there are a number of questions that have no easy answers. There are arguments both for and against these topics, but there remain no clear deciding factors. In these cases, the answer becomes a judgment call – and the judgment is very subjective. So it is with this question – “Will drilling in the ANWR really help?”
The ANWR stands for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is located in Alaska. The ANWR is an area of over 19 million acres of protected land along the Northern Slope of the state – an area that is larger than a number of other states combined. Recently, it has been proposed that we drill for oil in section 1002, an area of about 1.5 million acres.
The primary arguments for drilling are that the estimated oil reserves here could be between 5.7 and 16 billion barrels. This would mean a substantial increase in our domestic reserves and could help the American economy by lowering the foreign trade deficit between now and 2030, in an amount somewhere between $135 billion to $327 billion. Drilling in the ANWR has wide support among the people of Alaska, and proponents of drilling point out that the area that would be involved in the drilling would have a smaller environmental impact than the Los Angeles International Airport.
On the other side, the criticisms against drilling in the ANWR are aimed at the nature of the oil experts speculate will be found in the area. Unlike in Texas, where there are liquid oil reserves you can drill down into, the oil in the ANWR is in oil sand and oil shale. Recovering it would require drilling not straight down, but at several different angles underground. Environmentalists argue that this would impact the area above ground in a negative way. There’s also the matter of extracting the oil from the sand and shale, a process many argue is not as well developed as the oil companies would like us to believe.
Finally, there’s the matter of the native Alaskan peoples who oppose drilling in the ANWR, saying that it will cause cultural harm that can’t be repaired. They worry that drilling will impact the native food animals that make up 60 to 70 percent of their diets. In fact, representatives of more than 229 villages have officially opposed any development in the ANWR. Several native villages have found issues with the oil companies’ proposed ability to protect native species, leading the Kaktovik village to pass a resolution against Shell Oil declaring it necessary to take legal and other actions to defend the community.
With these kinds of arguments, it’s easy to see why the issue of drilling in the ANWR is in political limbo at the current time. However, arguments from both sides may become moot, as current president Obama has said that he will not support drilling in the ANWR. Only time will tell whether he sticks by his decision or whether the issue will simply be raised again once his time in office is over.
