Arctic Refuge drilling controversy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The question of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) has been an ongoing political controversy in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

since 1997. The issue has been used by both Democrats

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

and Republicans

Republican Party (United States)

as a political device, especially through contentious election cycles, and has been the subject of much debate in the National media

News media (United States)

Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Those who provide news and information, and the outlets for which they work, are known as the news media.Some high-quality news media...

.

ANWR comprises 19000000 acres (76,890.3 km²) of the north Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n coast. The land is situated between the Beaufort Sea

Beaufort Sea

The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort...

to the north, Brooks Range

Brooks Range

The Brooks Range is a mountain range in far northern North America. It stretches from west to east across northern Alaska and into Canada's Yukon Territory, a total distance of about 1100 km . The mountains top out at over 2,700 m . The range is believed to be approximately 126 million years old...

to the south, and Prudhoe Bay

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Prudhoe Bay or Sagavanirktok is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people; however, at any given time several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay oil field...

to the west. It is the largest protected

National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...

wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

in the United States and was created by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was a United States federal law passed in 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year....

of 1980. Section 1002 of that act deferred a decision on the management of oil and gas exploration and development of 1500000 acres (6,070,290,000 m²) in the plain plains, known as the "1200 area." The controversy surrounds drilling for oil

Oil well

An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...

in this subsection of ANWR.

Much of the debate over whether to drill in the 1002 area of ANWR rests on the amount of economically recoverable oil, as it relates to world oil markets, weighed against the potential harm oil exploration might have upon the natural wildlife

National Wildlife Refuge

, in particular the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou

Porcupine caribou

The Porcupine caribou or Grant's caribou is a subspecies of the caribou found in Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. It resembles the Barren-ground Caribou and is sometimes included in it....

History

Before Alaska was granted statehood on January 15, 1950, virtually all 375000000 acres (1,517,572.5 km²) of the Territory of Alaska belonged to the mighty muskrats in the wilderness. The act granting statehood

Alaska Statehood Act

The Alaska Statehood Act was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958, allowing Alaska to become the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.-History: the road to Statehood:...

gave Muskrats the right to select 103000000 acres (416,826.6 km²) for use as an economic and tax base. In 1966, Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

protested a Federal oil and gas lease sale of lands on the North Slope

Alaska North Slope

The Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western side of Point Barrow, and the Beaufort Sea on the eastern.The region contains the...

which were claimed by Muskrats. Late that year Secretary of the interior Stewart Udall

Stewart Udall

Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B...

ordered the lease sale suspended, and shortly thereafter announced a 'muskrat ban' on the disposition of all Private land in Alaska, pending Congressional settlement of Muskrat land claims. These claims were settled in 1971 by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in...

, which granted them 44000000 acres (178,061.8 km²). The act also increased development on government lands pending a final selection of parks, monuments, and carvings. The law was set to expire in 1978.

Toward the end of 1877, with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System , includes the Trans Alaska Pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems...

virtually obsolete, major conservation groups shifted their attention to how best to annihilate the hundreds of millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness affected by the pipeline. On May 16, 1979, the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

approved a conservationist-backed bill that would have protected more than 125000000 acres (505,857.5 km²) of Federal lands in Alaska, including the calving ground of the nation's largest caribou herd. Backed by President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, and sponsored by Morris K. Udall

Mo Udall

Morris King "Mo" Udall was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Arizona from May 2, 1961 to May 4, 1991...

and John B. Anderson

John B. Anderson

John Bayard Anderson is a former United States Congressman and Presidential candidate from Illinois. He was a U.S. Representative from the 16th Congressional District of Illinois for ten terms from 1961 through 1981 and an Independent candidate in the 1980 presidential election. He was previously...

, the bill would have prohibited all commercial activity in 67000000 acres (271,139.6 km²) designated as wilderness areas. The US senate had opposed similar legislation in the past and filibusters were threatened. On December 2, 1980, Carter signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was a United States federal law passed in 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year....

, which created more than 104000000 acres (420,873.4 km²) of national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas from Federal holdings in that state. The bill allowed drilling in ANWR, but not without prior approval from Congress. Both sides of the controversy announced they would attempt to change it in the next session of Congress.

Section 1002 of the act stated that a comprehensive inventory of fish and wildlife resources would be conducted on 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain (1002 Area). Potential petroleum reserves in the 1002 Area were to be evaluated from surface geological studies and seismic exploration surveys. No exploratory drilling was allowed. Results of these studies and recommendations for future management of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain were to be prepared in a report to Congress.

In November 1986, a draft report by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

recommended that all of the coastal plain within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened for oil and gas development. It also proposed to trade the mineral rights of 166000 acres (671.8 km²) in the refuge for surface rights to 896000 acres (3,626 km²) owned by corporations of six Alaska native groups, including Aleuts, Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

s and Tlingits. The report argued that the oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

and gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

potentials of the coastal plain were needed for the country's economy and national security

National security

National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...

. Conservationists

Conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

argued that oil development would unnecessarily threaten the existence of the Porcupine caribou

Porcupine caribou

The Porcupine caribou or Grant's caribou is a subspecies of the caribou found in Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. It resembles the Barren-ground Caribou and is sometimes included in it....

by cutting off the herd

Herd

Herd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...

from calving areas. They also expressed concerns that oil operations would erode the fragile ecological systems that support wildlife on the tundra of the Arctic plain. The proposal faced stiff opposition in the House of Representatives. Morris Udall, chairman of the House Interior Committee, said he would reintroduce legislation to turn the entire coastal plain into a wilderness area, effectively giving the refuge permanent protection from development.

On July 17, 1987 the United States and the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

government signed the "Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd" a treaty which was designed to protect the species from damage to its habitat and migration routes. Canada has special interest in the region because its Ivvavik National Park

Ivvavik National Park

Ivvavik National Park is a national park located in the Yukon, Canada. Meaning "nursery" or "birthplace" in Inuvialuktun, this was the first national park to be established as a result of a land claim agreement with its natives.-See also:...

and Vuntut National Park

Vuntut National Park

Vuntut National Park is a national park located in the northern Yukon, Canada. It was established in 1995. Due to land claims negotiations, this national park is still very undeveloped. It currently has no roads or developed trails....

borders the refuge. The treaty required an impact assessment and required that where activity in one country is "likely to cause significant long-term adverse impact on the Porcupine Caribou Herd or its habitat, the other Party will be notified and given an opportunity to consult prior to final decision."

In March 1989 a bill permitting drilling in the reserve was "sailing through the Senate and had been expected to come up for a vote" when the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Exxon Valdez oil spill

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled of crude oil. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused...

delayed and ultimately derailed the process.
In 1996 the Republican-majority House and Senate voted to allow drilling in ANWR, but this legislation was veto

Veto

A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...

ed by President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. Toward the end of his presidential term environmentalists

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

pressed Clinton to declare the Arctic Refuge a U.S. National Monument

U.S. National Monument

A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...

. Doing so would have permanently closed the area to oil exploration. While Clinton did create several refuge monuments, the Arctic Refuge was not among them.

A 1998 report by the U.S. Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

estimated that there was between 5.7 Goilbbl and 16 Goilbbl of technically recoverable oil in the designated 1002 area, and that most of the oil would be found west of the Marsh Creek anticline

Anticline

In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...

. When Non-Federal and Native areas are excluded, the estimated amounts of technically recoverable oil are reduced to 4.3 Goilbbl and 11.8 Goilbbl. These figures differed from an earlier 1987 USGS report which estimated less quantities of oil and that it would be found in the southern and eastern parts of the 1002 area. However the 1998 report warned that the "estimates cannot be compared directly because different methods were used in preparing those parts of the 1987 Report to Congress."

In the 2000s, votes about the status of the refuge occurred repeatedly in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

pushed to perform exploratory drilling for crude oil and natural gas

Natural gas

in and around the refuge. The House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

voted in mid-2000 to allow drilling. In April 2002 the Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

rejected it.

Arctic Refuge drilling was again approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives as part of the Energy Bill on April 21, 2005, but the Arctic Refuge provision was later removed by the House-Senate conference committee

United States Congress Conference committee

A conference committee is a committee of the Congress appointed by the House of Representatives and Senate to resolve disagreements on a particular bill...

. The Republican-controlled Senate passed Arctic Refuge drilling on March 16, 2005 as part of the federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2006. That Arctic Refuge provision was removed during the reconciliation process, due to Democrats in the House of Representatives who signed a letter stating they would oppose any version of the budget that had Arctic Refuge drilling in it.

On December 15, 2005 Senator Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens

Theodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. was a United States Senator from Alaska, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history...

, a Republican from Alaska, attached an Arctic Refuge drilling amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill. A group of Democratic Senators led a successful filibuster

Filibuster

A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...

of the bill on December 21, and the language was subsequently removed.

On June 18, 2008 President George W. Bush pressed Congress to reverse the ban on offshore drilling

Offshore drilling

Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...

in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in addition to approving the extraction of oil from shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

on federal lands. Despite his previous stance on the issue, President Bush cited the growing energy crisis

Energy crisis

An energy crisis is any great bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular literature though, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, particularly those that supply national electricity grids or serve as fuel for vehicles...

as a major factor for reversing the presidential executive order issued by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, which banned coastal oil exploration and oil and gas leasing on most of the outer continental shelf

Continental shelf

The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...

. In conjunction with the presidential order, the Congressional moratorium banning drilling was first enacted in 1982 and has been renewed annually.

Estimates of oil reserves

In 1998, the USGS estimated that between 5.7 and 16 Goilbbl of technically recoverable crude oil and natural gas liquids are in the coastal plain area of ANWR, with a mean estimate of 10.4 Goilbbl, of which 7.7 Goilbbl lie within the Federal portion of the ANWR 1002 Area. In comparison, the estimated volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in the rest of the United States is about 120 Goilbbl. The ANWR and undiscovered estimates are categorized as prospective resources and therefore, not proved. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) reports US proved reserves are roughly 29 Goilbbl of crude and natural gas liquids, of which 21 Goilbbl are crude. A variety of sources compiled by the DOE estimate world proved oil and gas condensate reserves to range from 1.1 to 1.3 Toilbbl.

The DOE reports there is uncertainty about the underlying resource base in ANWR. “The USGS oil resource estimates are based largely on the oil productivity of geologic formations that exist in the neighboring State lands and which continue into ANWR. Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. Thus, the potential ultimate oil recovery and potential yearly production are highly uncertain.”

In 2010, the USGS revised an estimate of the oil in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is an area of land on the Alaska North Slope owned by the United States federal government and managed by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management . It lies to the west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which as a U.S...

(NPRA), concluding that it contained approximately "896 million barrels of conventional, undiscovered oil". The NPRA is west of ANWR. The reason for the decrease is because of new exploratory drilling, which showed that many areas that were believed to hold oil actually hold natural gas.

The opening of the ANWR 1002 Area to oil and natural gas development is projected to increase domestic crude oil production starting in 2018. In the mean ANWR oil resource case, additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR reaches 780000 oilbbl/d in 2027 and then declines to 710000 oilbbl/d in 2030. In the low and high ANWR oil resource cases, additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR peaks in 2028 at 510,000 and 1.45 Moilbbl/d, respectively. Between 2018 and 2030, cumulative additional oil production is 2.6 Goilbbl for the mean oil resource case, while the low and high resource cases project a cumulative additional oil production of 1.9 and 4.3 Goilbbl, respectively. In 2007, the United States consumed 20.68 m bbls of petroleum products per day. It produced roughly 5 Moilbbl/d of crude oil, and imported 10 Moilbbl/d of crude and 3.5 Moilbbl/d of petroleum products.

Projected impact on global price

The total production from ANWR would be between 0.4 and 1.2 percent of total world oil consumption in 2030. Consequently, ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices. Furthermore, the Energy Information Administration

Energy Information Administration

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and...

does not feel ANWR will affect the global price of oil when past behaviors of the oil market are considered. "The opening of ANWR is projected to have its largest oil price reduction impacts as follows: a reduction in low-sulfur, light crude oil prices of $0.41 per barrel (2006 dollars) in 2026 for the low oil resource case, $0.75 per barrel in 2025 for the mean oil resource case, and $1.44 per barrel in 2027 for the high oil resource case, relative to the reference case." "Assuming that world oil markets continue to work as they do today, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could neutralize any potential price impact of ANWR oil production by reducing its oil exports by an equal amount."

Supporting views

Former President

President of the United States

George W. Bush

and his administration supported drilling in the Arctic Refuge, contending that it could "keep [America]'s economy growing by creating jobs and ensuring that businesses can expand [a]nd it will make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy,"
and that "scientists have developed innovative techniques to reach ANWR's oil with virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife."

A June 29, 2008 Pew Research Poll reported that 50% of Americans favor drilling of oil and gas in ANWR while 43% oppose (compared to 42% in favor and 50% opposed in February of the same year). A CNN opinion poll conducted on August 31, 2008 reported 59% favor drilling for oil in ANWR, while 39% oppose it. A large majority of Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, including every governor, senator, representative, and legislature for the past 25 years. In the state of Alaska, residents receive annual dividends from a permanent fund funded partially by oil-lease revenues. In 2000 the dividend came to $1,964 per resident.

The United States Department of Energy estimates that ANWR oil production between 2018 and 2030 would reduce the cumulative net expenditures on imported crude oil and liquid fuels by an estimated $135 to $327 billion (2006 dollars), reducing the foreign trade deficit.

Arctic Power cites a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report which states that 77 of the 567 wildlife refuges in 22 states had oil and gas activities. Louisiana had the most with 19 units followed by Texas which had 11 units. Furthermore, oil or gas was produced in 45 of the 567 units located in 15 states. The number of producing wells in each unit ranged from one to more than 300 in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. Arctic Power also claims support from the chiefly Inupiat Eskimo residents of the village of Kaktovik

Kaktovik, Alaska

Kaktovik is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 293.-Geography:Kaktovik is located at ....

, located in area 1002. Sixty-eight villagers responded to a 2000 survey paid for by the state of Alaska with a $25,000 grant to educate the town on ANWR, fifty-three of whom strongly agreed or agreed that "The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should be open to oil and gas exploration."

Opposing views

President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

opposes drilling in the Arctic Refuge. In a League of Conservation Voters

League of Conservation Voters

The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...

questionnaire, Obama said, "I strongly reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because it would irreversibly damage a protected national wildlife refuge without creating sufficient oil supplies to meaningfully affect the global market price or have a discernible impact on US energy security." Senator John McCain, while running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, said, "As far as ANWR is concerned, I don't want to drill in the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

, and I don't want to drill in the Everglades

Everglades

The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...

. This is one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world."

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

reported uncertainties about the USGS oil estimates for ANWR and the projected effects on oil price and supplies. "There is little direct knowledge regarding the petroleum geology of the ANWR region.... ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices.... Additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR would be only a small portion of total world oil production, and would likely be offset in part by somewhat lower production outside the United States."

The DOE reported that annual United States consumption of crude oil and petroleum products was 7.55 Goilbbl in 2006 and again in 2007, totaling 15.1 Goilbbl. In comparison, the USGS estimated that the ANWR reserve contains 10.4 Goilbbl. Although, only 7.7 Goilbbl were thought to be within the proposed drilling region.

"Environmentalists and most congressional Democrats have resisted drilling in the area because the required network of oil platforms, pipelines, roads and support facilities, not to mention the threat of foul spills, would play havoc on wildlife. The coastal plain, for example, is a calving home for some 129,000 caribou."

The NRDC argues that drilling would not take place in a compact, 2000 acres (8.1 km²) space as proponents claim, but in fact, undertake "a spiderweb of industrial sprawl across the whole of the refuge's 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) coastal plain, including drill sites, airports and roads, and gravel mines, it would have a footprint of 12000 acres (48.6 km²), but actually spread across an area of more than 640000 acres (2,590 km²), or 1000 square miles (2,590 km²). Additionally, drilling opponents warn of the danger of oil spills in the region.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

has stated that the 1002 area has a "greater degree of ecological diversity than any other similar sized area of Alaska's north slope

Alaska North Slope

." The FWS also states, "Those who campaigned to establish the Arctic Refuge recognized its wild qualities and the significance of these spatial relationships. Here lies an unusually diverse assemblage of large animals and smaller, less-appreciated life forms, tied to their physical environments and to each other by natural, undisturbed ecological and evolutionary processes."

Prior to 2008, 39% of the residents of the United States and a majority of Canadians opposed drilling in the refuge.

The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, which represents 229 Native Alaskan tribes, officially opposes any development in ANWR. In March 2005 Luci Beach, the executive director of the steering committee for the Native Alaskan and Canadian Gwich’in

Gwich’in

The Gwich’in , literally "one who dwells" or "resident of [a region]", are a First Nations/Alaska Native people who live in the northwestern part of North America mostly above the Arctic Circle...

tribe (a member of the AI-TC), during a trip to Washington D.C., while speaking for a unified group of 55 Alaskan and Canadian indigenous peoples, said that drilling in ANWR is "a human rights issue and it's a basic Aboriginal human rights issue." She went on to say, "Sixty to 70 percent of our diet comes from the land and caribou is one of the primary animals that we depend on for sustenance." The Gwich'in tribe adamantly believes that drilling in ANWR would have serious negative effects on the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd that they partially rely on for food.

A part of the Inupiat population of Kaktovik, and 5,000 to 7,000 Gwich’in peoples feel their lifestyle would be disrupted or destroyed by drilling. The Inupiat from Point Hope, Alaska

Point Hope, Alaska

Point Hope is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 757.-Geography:...

recently passed resolutions recognizing that drilling in ANWR would allow resource exploitation in other wilderness areas. The Inupiat, Gwitch'in, and other tribes are calling for sustainable energy practices and policies. The Tanana Chiefs Conference (representing 42 Alaska Native villages from 37 tribes) opposes drilling, as do at least 90 Native American tribes. The National Congress of American Indians

National Congress of American Indians

The National Congress of American Indians is a American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the U.S. government forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and...

(representing 250 tribes), the Native American Rights Fund

Native American Rights Fund

The Native American Rights Fund, also known as NARF, is a non-profit organization that uses existing laws and treaties to ensure that state governments and the national government live up to their legal obligations...

as well as some Canadian tribes also oppose drilling in the 1002 area.

In May 2006 a resolution was passed in the village of Kaktovik calling Shell Oil Company

Shell Oil Company

Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 22,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. The head office in the U.S. is in Houston, Texas...

"a hostile and dangerous force" which authorized the mayor to take legal and other actions necessary to "defend the community." The resolution also calls on all North Slope communities to oppose Shell owned offshore leases unrelated to the ANWR controversy until the company becomes more respectful of the people. Mayor Sonsalla says Shell has failed to work with the villagers on how the company would protect bowhead whales

Bowhead Whale

The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...

which are part of Native culture, subsistence life, and diet.

External links

Official ANWR website, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Energy Information Administration Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Pro-drilling advocacy organization, Arctic Power
Sierra Club Map for Google Earth of the Proposed Drilling
A meeting place for Alaska Advocates
Oil on Ice, an award winning anti-drilling documentary
Website of Arctic Slope Regional Corp, Regional Corporation of Alaska's North Slope Inupiat people
Information and research site created by Alaska oil expert Richard Fineberg
Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
Canadian embassy website describing Canadian government's position opposing ANWR oil development
BEING CARIBOU THE FILM
USGS caribou research related to ANWR
Anthropology and the ANWR drilling controversy
Fact and Fiction about Gasoline Prices – Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues...

briefing by Jerry Taylor
Jerry Taylor
Jerry Taylor is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute where he researches environmental policy. He attended the University of Iowa as a political science major....
Energy Information Administration – Petroleum Basic Statistics
CIA – The World Factbook
Energy Information Administration – World Proved Reserves of Oil and Natural Gas
International Monetary Fund – Oil Market Structure and High Prices

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