Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

“Too often in politics, there are fallacious either/or arguments put up as a justification or an excuse for an action or view which is skewed in such a way as to suggest that there is only one acceptable choice.” Peter Garrett. The United States, and much of the world is dependent on oil, a dying resource. Oil supplies are limited and fossil fuels are becoming increasingly hard to extract. The debate over drilling in environmentally important areas is a heated one. Each side of has their own opinions and proof that their argument is without a doubt, the only way. These preinstalled views are nearly impossible to sway, and rightfully so, everyone is initialed to their own opinion. But this paper will attempt to shed a little more light on the issue, and with any luck , influence a few to look at things in a slightly different light. Base of the limited life of oil; cost effectiveness and environmental damage, drilling in ANWR should not be conducted.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 19,300,000 acre refuge in northeast Alaska; it is the largest wilderness area in the United States and is managed by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. The refuge was created under the Public Land Order 2214 in 1960, and was expanded in 1980 through the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). This Act is the source of great controversy because it included the highly debated 1002 area. Believed to hold crude oil, the 1002 area makes up only 10% of the refuges total area, but includes a majority of the Refuge’s coastal plain, and arctic foothill ecological zones (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). This vast wilderness contains great biological value, and is unlike any other.

“The Arctic National W...

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Content source); Stephen C. Nodvin (Topic Editor);. 2008. "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, United States." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth October 31, 2006; Last revised April 14, 2008; Retrieved July 18, 2010]