Home > Debate Club > Is It Time to Drill in the Arctic Refuge? > America Is Not Prepared to Safely Drill in ANWR

America Is Not Prepared to Safely Drill in ANWR

The Alaskan refuge belongs to the American people, not the oil industry

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So, we want to create jobs and put America back to work. We also want to be less dependent on oil purchases abroad.

This is a win/win across the board. When the oil companies install a pipeline, the right of way is restored. They are extremely sensitive to the environment.

As long as we have homes to live in and cars to drive we are always going to be oil/natural gas/coal dependent.

As long as business needs to ship to consumers fuel will be needed. We have made great leaps in the technologies to create a more efficient vehicle, we still need gas/diesel to get from point A to point B.

Personally, I would rather keep my money at home then to send it to OPEC.

Martha Davis of TX 7:35AM November 04, 2011

It was difficult to stop because environmentalist wackos pushed the rigs off shore into deep water. Liberalism always has the exact opposite effect of its stated intentions.

ANWR was specifically set aside for driling, so do it already!

Mark C of OH 6:26AM November 04, 2011

The images of ANWR in this very article speak to the dishonesty of the media and anti-development groups that wish to keep from exploring a very small parcel of ANWR, which is a thousand miles away from the mountains and rivers you show in this photo. The area of potential EXPLORATION looks nothing like this. It is a frozen desert, with no rivers or anadromous fish and very little wildlife. How many of you are actually from Alaska? Why do you feel you have the right to make decisions on Alaskans' behalf when we would never come to your house and tell you how to run your home. I imagine none of you have actually visited ANWR, and certainly not where there would be any exploration. If you are so concerned, please ask Alaska Natives to decide. It is, after all, our home, our land we have lived off of and cared for over a millennia. There are no persons on Earth who care for Alaska more than Alaska's First People and we have witnessed firsthand the growth of the caribou population around the pipeline and the benefits not only to our State but the U.S. . It is $12 for a gallon of milk in most villages in Alaska. It is .75 cents a kilowatt hour for power. You in the Lower 48 states pay roughly .02 cents a kilowatt hour. Please, try to live in Alaska for just one winter and you will look differently at SAFE ways to improve our way of life and decrease the ever-increasing costs of living in rural Alaska. And, please take care of your state and neighborhoods before taking on the decisions of a great land thousands of miles from your Starbucks and GAS POWERED CAR!

Ryan of AK 4:23AM November 04, 2011

Arctic WILDLIFE Refuge NOT Arctic WILDERNESS Resort.

Oh, by the way, the caribou are doing fine.

Dorene Lorenz of AK 1:16AM November 04, 2011

54.5 mpg... I wonder if anybody who speaks out against fossil fuels or tries to set these laws of economy standards really has any idea on how automobiles work. That is not only a completely unreasonable number in terms of making vehicles Americans will be able to afford in the future (or vehicles with any kind of performance or longevity), but also pointless being that our population is increasing at an exponential rate, which will be more than enough to offset any change in the national average fuel economy. Instead of wasting so many resources on trying to put band-aids on our petrol addiction, we should drill away to keep costs down, and instead put out our collective energy into finding viable technology (and putting in a strong support structure) that can fully replace internal combustion engines someday, when the time is right. I'm sorry, but human prosperity is more important that the environment in the Arctic Circle, and energy prices are currently one of the biggest problems we face. If we temporarily have to put the wilderness at risk to keep our economy going (until we can produce truly clean technology,) then so be it.

Benjamin Didier of OR 1:00AM November 04, 2011

As is the case with most arguments from the left, facts are tossed aside in favor of emotional pleas such as saving the "birthing grounds" of animals. It will take only minutes to research how the caribou herds were impacted by the Alaska pipeline. The sky isn't going to fall, despite how loud Chicken Little might scream.

Dale of IN 12:15AM November 04, 2011

2025? That's umm 14 years away. IF it happens. Remember the promise maker will be gone in 2012, I hope, or maybe 2016. Still 9 years before the big auto shift into high mileage cars. Right. Let's face it, if the auto manufacturers really wanted to produce cars wth better mileage, they could have done it years ago, and it could be up to over 100mpg by now. I dont believe they'll do it, and neither does the President. We'll just keep making his middle east friends richer and richer.

Conservative and proud of IL 11:56PM November 03, 2011

It seems none of you have lived in rural America where people need Pickup trucks to pull heavy equipment and then run the equipment for farming and ranching. Schools, town, supplies to live are miles away in the heartland of America. We couldn't get there in an electric car, we can't afford electric cars or the batteries when they die in 5 to 10 years? If every one had an electric car, where would you get your electricity? Wind and Solar doesn't work to supply major cities and studies are showing they cause more pollution to start and stop the flow of power when wind and solar isn't enough. The footprint drilling would make in Alaska is so small it would not affect anything in a negative way. Wildlife in the areas of Alaska where the drilling would occur would not be impacted. We have been drilling in Alaska for years safely and the Arctic would be no different. So what if we wouldn't see results of getting the oil for 10 years. If we wait 1 year it will be 11 years. Alternative energy is not ready to make us energy independent. We need all sources of energy to become energy independent. Not drilling for oil and natural gas, closing down coal plants, shutting down coal mines is accomplishing loss of jobs and increasing energy costs for all Americans at a time we can afford neither. Let the free market decide not a bunch of people who have good intentions but bad judgment and no real common sense and it is destroying our economy and our Country.

Delaine Hester of TN 11:38PM November 03, 2011

Talk about comparing apples and oranges .... two completely different means of production from the deep water rig in the gulf that BP had the accident . That spill was caused by a breach at incredible depth. The administration dropped the ball in not letting the closest vessels and most able vessels assist initially due to "international concerns" .... whatever they meant by that. Over-regulation was more a cause of that spill. Shallow water rigs like those used offshore of Texas have exemplary safety records as do the systems used on the North Slope. Since the government has excessively limited drilling closer to shore, these risky deepwater rigs are the workaround to continue drilling and exploration. ANWR wildlife would actually benefit from the presence of drilling operations much like the wildlife that is thriving in the areas adjacent to the pipeline and North Slope areas. The area that would be opened to drilling would be less that 2% of the total area encompassed by the refuge. The the production potential is greater than the whole of Alaska's current capacity. The 10 year figure is bogus as well. Production could begin within 18 months and full capacity reached within 4-5 years if the permitting process were streamlined. Prices at the pump would drop by 20-30 cents just on the announcement that ANWR was finally being opened up. The way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is to produce our own while we are developing the next generation of energy sources.

Craig W Peters of FL 10:37PM November 03, 2011

I care about the environment just like anyone but I heard years ago that drilling in ANWR would only take about 2000 acres over a land that is vast. As far as it hurting wildlife, I read about the pipeline in Alaska having animals nestle by it to keep warm so this constant left-wing nonsense about it hurting wildlife or the environment is ridiculous. ANWR is part of several areas of oil in the US that can be tapped into but thanks to the liberal lobbyists which I think extreme environmentalists are, it does not happen. Everytime some little thing arises in the middle east not including Iraq & Afganastan, oil prices shoot up so it is a must we start drilling here in the US to provide jobs & depend less & less on getting any imported oil from the middle east. President Obama handled that oil spill in the gulf last year badly, he thinks stopping drilling would help, alot of business were hurt because of it even more importantly the folks who died when the rig exploded, but halting drilling even temporarily lost jobs, he just did that to appease his base. I believe oil companies for the most part do everything they can to not hurt the environment.

jason of PA 10:34PM November 03, 2011

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