Debate Club

Is It Time to Drill in the Arctic Refuge? >

Oil and Wildlife Do Not Mix

Opening ANWR to oil and gas drilling will irreparably damage the fragile tundra and its wildlife

November 3, 2011

About Dan Ritzman:

Dan Ritzman is the Alaska Program Director for the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats Campaign. For more than a decade he has worked to thwart efforts to open the Arctic Refuge to oil development and to protect special areas of America's Arctic. Dan has a passion for America's Arctic and has undertaken over 35 trips north of the Arctic Circle.

From the peaks of the Brooks Range, across rolling tundra, wild rivers and vast wetlands to sparkling coastal waters, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to a stunning array of wildlife. The refuge contains the greatest diversity of animal life of any conservation area in the circumpolar region. It was created to protect the many unique, and often endangered, animals that exist in the delicate balance of the extreme Arctic conditions.

[See a collection of political cartoons on gas prices.]

But the Arctic is home to more than just rich scenery and stunning wildlife. The indigenous Gwich'in and Inupiat people have lived in the Arctic and relied on the bounty of the refuge for more than 20,000 years.

Opening the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas drilling will irreparably damage the fragile tundra and its wildlife, threatening native subsistence communities. To understand what's at stake, look at Prudhoe Bay, where less than 100 miles west of the Arctic Refuge drilling has resulted in hundreds of spills involving tens of thousands of gallons of oil each year. A similar fate awaits the coastal plain of the refuge if oil companies get their way. Oil and wildlife do not mix. Behind shallow assurances of safety and environmental responsibility is a dismal record of spills, air and water pollution by oil and gas companies.

Drilling proponents will say anything for a chance to exploit this American treasure for their own gain. Last week, Arctic Refuge drilling was heralded as the answer to our budget woes. This week? It is a jobs' savior. Next week? Perhaps Arctic Refuge drilling will be hailed as the answer to world peace.

[Read about how competition impacts gas prices.]

The truth is, drilling in the Arctic Refuge, one of our nation's last great wilderness places, will do next to nothing to reduce unemployment, our budget deficit, or gas prices--and it likely won't bring about world peace.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our nation's last great wild places. It should not be opened to destructive oil and gas drilling but saved for future generations. If we have the vision and boldness to protect it, our children will thank us.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is currently deciding the future of the refuge. The agency should protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, prohibiting oil and gas drilling. Some places are just too special to drill; the Arctic Refuge is one of them.

Tags:
Arctic,
oil,
gas prices,
economy,
environment
Other Arguments
#1
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#4

No — The Alaskan refuge belongs to the American people, not the oil industry

FRANCES BEINECKE, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council

#5
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#7
#8
#9

Yes — We want to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil

DAN SULLIVAN, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources

#10
#11

Yes — ANWR coastal plain has the highest potential for oil onshore in the U.S.

MARILYN CROCKETT, Executive Director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association

#12

Yes — A long-term strategy for energy security must involve alternatives to petroleum-based fuels

ROBBIE DIAMOND, Founder, President and CEO of Securing America's Future Energy

#13

Reader Comments Read all comments (4)

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Hey Dan,

How much did your non profit raise in donations in 2010 and what is your 10 month total for 2011? Isn't your Sierra group the one that ran pictures of the Brooks Range of mountains with script saying oil companies wanted to drill in this pristine and beautiful Alpine area? What was it Dan? Beautiful mountaion slopes, calm and blue lakes? Yeah I think so. It is called deliberate deception - oh come on Dan - let's just call it what it is - bald face lying. And you took people's donation to put those false ads in full page NY Times, LA Times and who knows how many other papers. Why couldn't you show the REAL pictures of where drilling would take place - a very small portion of the coastal plane swarmed by mosquitos in summer and frozen and vacant in the winter.

I see you make no comment about the wildlfe populations on the North Slope since we began pumping oil to America down the Trans Alaska Pipeline in 1978. I wouldn't either if I was trying to pump everybody's bilge. Fact is the porcupine caribou herd is more than twice as large as it was pre-pipeline, and despite what the press may selectively decide to tell America - polar bear populations are also at record highs.

The worst thing that can happen for Lower 48 state fellow Americans is to believe everything you read in the mainstream press and media. The majority of these environmentalist group opinions posted here are interested most in taking money from deliberately disinformed folks - like you maybe to grow their salaries and organizations. Their socalled causes, in this case - stopping us from bringing home oil from the coastal plane, doesn't pass the common sense test.

I don't respect organizations like Dan's. I can respect individual members, but these groups seem to have alterior motives when they are exposed against facts. They are all about subtrafuge. Snake oil comes to mind.

Jay Page of AK 1:33AM November 04, 2011

I vote instead we take the entire state of California and turn it back into a wilderness area. Make those people clean up the ecological disaster they have created. Get rid of all the pavement, all the houses, all cars. Let people live in shelters made of handwoven leaves, eat their organically grown naturally watered/fertilized food raw, forgo heat, cooling, and electricity. Let's make California one big park.

And let's throw in a most of the Eastern Seaboard as well, just for giggles. And Colorado.

Lisa Walker of AK 1:10AM November 04, 2011

We need to be protecting fragile environments, not sacrificing them for America's greed....we need to explore alternative forms of energy!!!

Sindy of CO 7:29PM November 03, 2011

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