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| Yes | 30% | 14 votes | Total: 47 votes | |
| No | 70% | 33 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhy are some people opposed to exploring for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR)? Perhaps they are comfortable paying $4, $5, or maybe $7 per gallon of gas. I personally want to pay the least amount possible and yes, I am in favor of drilling in ANWAR!
Some are concerned about the Porcupine Caribou. Many so-called environmentalists had the same concerns when the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which carries oil from Prudhoe Bay 800 miles south to Valdez., yet studies have shown that the population of the Porcupine Caribou has increased exponentially since 1977. http://townhall.com/ columnists/LindaChav ez/2001/04/11/anwr_a nd_oil
Don't believe me? Then look at some pictures for yourself:
http://imag es.google.com/imgres ?imgurl=http://blog. heritage.org/wp-cont ent/uploads/2008/06/ image015.jpg&img refurl=http://blog.h eritage.org/2008/06/ 29/the-truth-about-a nwr/&usg=__LC4M_ wPkW4280pl9AJ9k6T9yH Pw=&h=431&w= 540&sz=32&hl =en&start=54& ;tbnid=1K6cBehf2Z54a M:&tbnh=105& tbnw=132&prev=/i mages%3Fq%3DPorcupin e%2Bcaribou%2Bpipeli ne%26start%3D42%26as _st%3Dy%26gbv%3D2%26 ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den% 26sa%3DN
We see pictures on TV showing us how beautiful Alaska is and in particular, the beauty supposedly surrounding ANWAR. But is that the truth? ANWAR is approximately 19,800,000 acres of which 2,000 acres have been set aside for exploration. The represents 0.0001% of the entire ANWAR region! ANWAR is a barren flatland that is scarcely populated by anything except perhaps the caribou and they have adapted to live with the pipeline. There is no reason to believe they will not adapt to the drilling in ANWAR. If you were to take one piece of glitter and drop it onto a sheet of paper you would have a rough idea of how much land is represented. So please keep in mind that when you see those pictures you are being misled. Do you wonder why the opponents of drilling have to lie to accomplish their ambitions?
Oil drilling is not what it used to be. With the advancement of technology affecting pretty much everything it touches, it is no wonder that oil drilling is now much cleaner than it used to be. For instance, did you know there were no significant oil leaks in the Gulf of Mexico when hurricane Katrina hit? That same technology (or improved), will be used in ANWAR.
Some will argue that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will respond by reducing their production thereby keeping prices artificially high. It won't work. The law of supply and demand dictates that they will eventually return to the production levels that will maximize their profit.
Now it may be true that we will eventually create the technology needed to eliminate the need for oil, but it does not exist right now. We need oil and the cheaper it is the better we will be. Yes, I am in favor of utilizing our God given talents to create more efficient means of powering our energy needs, but we need to use what we have while we are searching for new and better ways.
Finally, think about the jobs this will create. It may not be many but it will help the Alaskan economy which will benefit the rest of the lower 48 states. How large of an impact will it have? Perhaps nominal at best but every little bit helps.
There are just too many arguments in favor of exploring for and the eventual drilling of oil in ANWAR to simply dismiss it. We need it and the sooner the better!
Learn more about this author, B Smith.
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No
I do not think we should drill for oil in Alaska. I do not see how it will really help us break our dependence on oil in the long run. We drill in Alaska, get a little bit of oil, and we are still going to be dependent on oil in the end.
It would take several years just to build the rig out there, especially if there are any kinds of spills or accidents in the process. Then you have to figure in the fact that there are only approximately 10 billion barrels worth of oil out there, which most experts seem to agree would only last the U.S. between 6 months and one year. So, we spend several years and most likely several billions of dollars, just for up to a year of oil? That seems fairly unbalanced and a highly ineffective use of the taxpayers' money.
What of the environmental effects of the drilling in Alaska? We would be displacing thousands of native species from their homes and oil spills would contaminate the water sources which would affect the fish supplies (which are a common source of food for Alaskans and a main export to other states as well).
So, we drill in Alaska, get our year supply of oil after several years of waiting, and then what? We are right back to square one: trying to find an end to the energy crisis, which will more than likely have gotten worse by that point. We will have damaged the planet further, ruined a natural habitat again and all for our own personal greed and addiction to oil.
Oil prices are dropping fairly quickly now. What was once $140 a barrel is now closer to $90 a barrel. This is happening without us drilling for oil in Alaska! Why, then, should we needlessly waste money and endanger helpless, innocent animals all for our own selfish goals. We need to act now to find more reliable sources of energy that are cleaner, more efficient, and are more cost effective. Wind energy is an obvious source that is all of these. Natural gas is also an option to look at, as is solar energy. I know solar energy is not exactly cheap initially, but in the long run it would likely save trillions of dollars in the long run.
All of these would be much more attainable than oil, are quite renewable unlike oil and would be accessible to everyone, which would mean that no one country could truly monopolize it like the Middle East has done in the oil industry (even though a majority of our oil is actually from our own country). They would be more fairly priced because they would be widely available and more reliable than oil. We could store it up easier than oil which would lead us to an energy surplus rather than an energy crisis.
This is why I believe drilling in Alaska would be an unwise idea and why we should turn our attention to other sources of energy sooner rather than later.
Learn more about this author, Sarah Sanny.
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