Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska and is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the United States. Created by Congress in 1980 with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), this area is at the center of both economic and environmental controversy as it holds potential for the production of both oil and natural gas. The ANILCA’s most controversial piece was the decision to defer drilling and petroleum exploration in the coastal plain region of ANWR known as the 1002 area (Figure 1). Petroleum is a valuable economic resource that is used in everyday life from the generation of electricity to fueling transportation to making plastic and synthetic goods. Yet despite modern society’s reliance on petroleum, we are using this finite resource faster than it can be replenished and at the cost of damaging the environment and inducing anthropogenic warming of the Earth’s climate. Petroleum is a nonrenewable resource, meaning that it cannot be readily replaced by natural means on a level equivalent to its consumption. It takes millions of years for crude oil to form through the burial and decay of small aquatic organisms (e.g. plankton, diatoms). The formation of petroleum primarily consists of three steps. The first step consists of the burial of the aforementioned…

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) sits on what we might call a pot of black gold; a reported 7 billion barrels of oil can be found here (Primack), and we can find a lot of debates online regarding the ANWR. On one side the oil industry’s potential role in accessing the land, pulling this resource out for the benefit of the energy independence and economic growth of North America. On the other side of the debate is the protection of this majestic beauty of the vast grasslands and herds…

Located in Northeastern Alaska, United States, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the areas used to protect and conserve America’s wildlife and plants. It is the largest Wildlife Refuge in the country at 19,286,722 acres. For more than over a decade there has been political debates about whether or not there should be drilling for oil on the coastal plains. Oil drilling cause’s damage to the wildlife there and cause for animals to become extinct. I think that there should not be any…

Fogliasso, Christine E., and Margie Washburn. "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Refuge For America?." Insights To A Changing World Journal 1 (2012): 38-51.Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Oct. 2015. There are many wildlife species in the arctic regions ranging from, birds, caribou herds, polar bears, and more. The porcupine caribou herds are the main food source for the villages that live the subsistence lifestyle in the Arctic region.The expectations of drilling regarding to wildlife are…

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not only ethically wrong but can also be very harmful to the environment and surrounding communities. The ANWR is a wildlife refuge in Alaska, it includes more than 19 acres of land and is very significant to the National Wildlife Refuge System (defenders.org). Drilling is ethically wrong in this area because it is one of America's last intact and untouched landscape and is home to 45 species of mammals, 42 fish species, and more than 200…

drilling our own soil, and not many places are available for such activities. This leaves places like the ANWR vulnerable to those who are looking for local petroleum. Although the ANWR has large reserves of oil it is a protected wildlife refuge and this is why drilling here becomes a debate. Other people should be informed on issues such as this that concern the environment and the animals involved in its ecosystem. One point which is often discussed are the pros versus the cons of drilling…

The nation has the opportunity to increase the production of natural gas, an energy source that is environmentally friendly. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, “ANWR” for short, is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska. It consists of 19.6 million acres in the Alaska North Slope region. Nicholas Monaghan reports that the ANWR has been at the face of the environmental policy debate for over thirty years. Since the early 1970s, there has been an environmental battle between oil…

areas of the world just for our own benefit? These are some of the many argumentative questions rational, environmentally aware individuals are asking after a significant amount oil has been recorded under the layers of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The price of oil and gas have nearly doubled since two years ago, according to Matthew J. Kotchen in his article Should we drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? An economic perspective. Drilling in the United States seems like the…

release the 19 million acres of land known as ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) out of protection from oil drilling. The need for oil now outweighs the predicted environmental impact. Drilling will improve the national economy, in addition to reducing our dependency on foreign countries for this good. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is estimated to sit on 10.4 billion barrels of crude oil with a five percent chance of being 16 billion. This quantity is enough to provide oil products…

drill for oil near an Alaskan wildlife refuge known as Arctic National Wildlife Refuge(ANWR). Although some Americans thought this was okay there were many reasons why this should not happen. These reasons included environmental pollution, harm to wildlife, as well as the consumption rates of oil. One negative affect of drilling for oil in Alaska is environmental pollution. In Document E, there are numerous amounts of evidence that help show why oil drilling would be harmful. Similar to…