The ANWR debate has been going on for decades and while conservation groups have been winning for the most part, it doesn’t seem like big oil companies are going to give up anytime soon. When reading about the ANWR issue there are many conflicting facts based on different testing and who is funding the tests. Most of the information that I have in this relatively brief overview of the situation is from The Union For Concerned Scientists, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Information Update and has been supplemented or confirmed by The Class Menagerie written by David B. Williams, ANWR Oil Threat Drilling Delayed by Dawn M. Smith, and World Wildlife Fund.
It is estimated that there is 100 million to 49.5 billion barrels of oil located in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In 1998 the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there would be a 50/50 chance of 7.7 billion barrels of oil being technically recoverable. The debate over whether to drill, or not to drill in this protected area only stands to get more intense as oil nears a record $100/barrel.
I am aware that there are many possibilities for new jobs and financial gains by drilling in ANWR. However, when this region became a refuge, it was not done so under the contingency of the wants of corporations or residents. The whole reason that these areas of protection have to be established, in the first place, is because we have bulldozed our way through so much of our natural world that we have to protect it from our own greed. ANWR holds more than just wealth for oil companies and petroleum for gas-guzzling consumers.
This is an area rich in wildlife and wilderness. Porcupine caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves, moose, a herd of rare muskoxen, snow geese, shorebirds, loons, songbirds, raptors, and fish such as the Arctic char and Arctic grayling all live within ANWR. All of these animals create a balanced ecosystem living off the tundra and other animals. As a result of industrialization we have lost respect for the delicate balance of ecosystems and living in a way where we take only what we need. When we drill for oil, we do so at the expense of the ecosystem that it is located within. There is evidence from previous oil spills of the damage that it causes. The Exxon Valdez oil spill is still affecting Alaskan beaches and in 2005 (10 years later) unweathered oil was found on over half the beaches and still causing harm to fish, birds, and polar bears.
The risk for oils spills only increases as we continue to drill for and transport oil. Polar bears, endangered bowhead whales, and the fragile tundra are all disturbed by the seismic testing used for oil exploration. The porcupine caribou herd that migrate through ANWR from the mountainous area to the coastal plains to give birth, are thought to be the largest animal group immediately affected by the drilling. The cows (female caribou) and calves are disturbed by the seismic activity. In addition to this, the porcupine caribou, especially the cows and calves, that depend on the nutritious vegetation of the tundra will be negatively impacted as the permafrost that is easily broken by road construction and seismic explosions, changes the water drainage patterns of the soil, thus retention of moisture, and further the vegetation which grows on the tundra.
Ecosystems hold a complex ecology of organisms that rely on each other and, in doing so, create a balance that sustains their existence. The affects of drilling for oil in this protected refuge for wildlife and wilderness could destroy it. It is a sad truth but the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge needs to be protected from the actions of human beings that prey on these precious ecosystems.
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