Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a nineteen million acre national wildlife refuge located in the Northeastern part of Alaska. It is the largest national wildlife in the United States. The first eight million acres designated to the refuge was appointed in 1960, and was considered a federally protected area. Twenty years later another eleven million acres was added in accordance to the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act. Under this act there was to be a study of the natural resources in a 1.5 million acre area name 1002. This act also mandated that no oil could be drilled from the site unless it was approved by Congress.

There has always been speculation that a large amount of oil was located in the ANWR due to the oil already located a short distance to the west in the Prudhoe Bay. For quite some time this was not a pressing issue due to the amount of oil already flowing from the wells in Prudhoe Bay. However, the quantity of oil flowing from Prudhoe Bay slowed down drastically and the question of whether to drill in the ANWR became an even bigger debate.

There are fierce advocates on both sides of the argument presenting many different facts and opinions on the matter. For the purpose of this paper I will oppose drilling in the ANWR based on three factors: the overall lack of information in regards to the amount of oil located at the ANWR, the minimal effect it will have on the overall price of oil, and the minimal effect it will have on the United State's dependency on foreign oil supply.

For a long period time there was no accurate study done on the actual amount of oil that is located in the ANWR (more specifically area 1002). However, in 2001, the United States Geological Survey gave three estimates as to the amount of oil in the ANWR. The USGS estimated with 95% certainty that 4.25 billion barrels of oil (BBO), a mean estimate of 7.69 BBO, and with 5% certainty that 11.8 BBO of technically recoverable oil was located beneath ANWR (Attanasi, 2005b). Unfortunately, this survey is not even an accurate estimation of the quantity of oil located there. In order to gain such information seismic analysis would have to be done in different locations of the ANWR in order to find where the oil is, and how much is there. This investigation would require the approval of Congress. It would also mean that large amounts of vehicular travel would take place in an area of land with no roads, causing irreversible damage to the landscape. Also, if oil was found there, the time and costs associated with getting the oil out range drastically. Many different experts predict that the first barrel shipped out of ANWR could take as little as two years, to as much as ten years. Finally, the mean estimate provided by the USGS of 7.69 BBO is close to the amount of oil used by the United States in 2005 (7.5 BBO (EIA, 2006c)). This means that with very little certainty, drilling in the ANWR, which could