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¶ … Congress as well as those interested in both the energy industry and the preservation of wild areas in the United States have argued whether drilling sites in Alaska should be expanded. One area of debate has been the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
The Heritage Foundation has argued in favor of expanded drilling into the ANWR. They argue that much of Alaska remains untouched, with large areas of intact ecosystems on private land owned by the Alaska National Interest (Shanahan, 1995).
Those opposed to the expansion of oil drilling into this area say make multiple arguments: that Native American cultures, in particular the Inupiat Eskimos, will be negatively affected; that it is uneconomical to attempt to retrieve the oil contained in the disputed area, and that the ecosystems are important and would inevitably be harmed.
In the year 2000, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service examined the cost of retrieving oil from the disputed area. Their detailed analysis showed the difficulties involved in retrieving the oil make the task uneconomical. They concluded that there was a 50%...
There was still the 50% chance that costs would rise above $24/barrel. The market price for oil at that time was $25 - $35/barrel, making the proposed drilling a risky financial venture.
The United States government wants the country to be as self-sufficient as possible for energy needs. It is national law and policy, however, to protect the environment from harm caused by industrialization.
The Inupiat Eskimos have looked at the issue of drilling for oil in Alaska. Jacob Adams (1995), speaking for natives in the area, described how his native culture has relied for millennia on the natural resources of the area, including hunting bowhead whale and caribou, fishing from streams and rivers, and gathering wild berries in the summer. Their way of life and culture is completely interwoven into their relationship with the environment in which they live. He described how his tribe has blended modern realities with their way of life, making profits for shareholders…
Bibliography
Adams, Jacob. June, 1995. "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Website of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. Accessed via the Internet 7/9/02. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/asrcadams.html
Shanahan, John. Oct. 17, 1995. "Time to Permit Oil Drilling in the Arctic Refuge." The Heritage Foundation. Accessed via the Internet 7/9/02. http://www.heritage.org/library/categories/enviro/em432.html
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Oct. 2000. "Potential impacts of proposed oil and gas development on the Arctic Refuge's coastal plain." Web page of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Accessed via the Internet 7/9/02. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwr_fws.htm
283). This led to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). This Act acknowledged the fact that there was a lack of knowledge about the ocean ecosystem. This was an important insight and "At its core, NEPA requires federal agencies to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS) whenever they propose a major federal action" but " it was unclear from the original language of the statute whether the
A petroleum geologist against drilling in the area writes, "For all practical purposes, the refuge is utterly pristine. It also encompasses an area 26 times larger than Yosemite National Park, almost nine times the size of Yellowstone" (Herndon). While few visitors seek out the Refuge, there are several small native villages in and around the area, and these Native Americans rely on the bounty of the Refuge for their
In this regard, Dunn notes that, "These include soil and water contamination from spills; alteration of vegetation and drainage from roads; and the disturbance of subsistence hunting opportunities for muskoxen, polar bears, caribou, and other wildlife. Nor do these new technologies mitigate the atmospheric effects of local haze, acid rain, and global warming" (2). Critics of further exploitation of the Refuge and wilderness maintain that viable alternatives to these
7. Wells on Indian Reservations Wells to drilling natural gas are often found on Indian reservations as the respective lands are rich in resources. Historically, debates have emerged based on the undervaluation of the gas extracted, which led to the inhabitants of the region being only limitedly remunerated for the usage of the land and the extraction of the natural gas. The matter has been addressed throughout the years (judiciary trials
In addition to energy crisis, an effect of U.S. dependence of foreign oil that many believe has already been exploited is the political affect. According to Feldstein, "the political leaders in the Middle East know that our dependence on their oil gives them leverage over our policies." Some believe that many of the United States' interventions in the Middle East have been in the name of oil. Many of these
Against Drilling for Oil in Alaska The subject of oil drilling in Alaska has been controversial. With declining oil reserves attention of society, and the oil companies, to identify potential new oil reserves. Although oil drilling in Alaska currently only makes up about 7% of U.S. oil supplies, surveys have indicated there could be sizable reserves within Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (Bourne, 2015). There have been articles published which