Is It Time to Drill in the Arctic Refuge? >
There Will Never Be a Time to Drill in ANWR
The oil and gas industry should be exploring alternative energy, not alternative lands
November 3, 2011
About William H. Meadows:
William H. "Bill" Meadows has been President of The Wilderness Society since 1996. He has been active in conservation for more than 30 years. He is a past Chairman of the Green Group, Chairman of the Board of the Campaign for America's Wilderness and the Partnership Project, and he also serves on the boards of the League of Conservation Voters and Island Press.
For many years now, politicians have used the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a rhetorical prop when talking about oil prices. "Oh, we would have cheaper gasoline, if only we could drill in the Arctic Refuge," more or less sums up the sentiment. Fortunately, there have been enough level-headed officials to more than counterbalance this thinking, and the refuge continues to be protected (which is what one would expect from a National Wildlife Refuge).
[Read about how competition impacts gas prices.]
Even so, year after year there are attempts to open the Arctic Refuge to oil rigs, pipelines, airstrips, and all of the other development that comes with them. Meanwhile, often from the same people arguing to drill the Arctic Refuge, we don't see fuel conservation measures or the pursuit of renewable, clean energy like wind and solar that can be produced without willingly destroying a national treasure.
The oil and gas industry is already sitting on tens of millions of acres of American land that it isn't using--and it has more than 7,000 final drilling permits sitting by unused. Clearly, the oil industry's problem is not a lack of access.
[Check out our Energy Intelligence blog.]
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is truly one of a kind. It is one of the few remaining intact ecosystems in the world--one of the last places on the planet that has not felt the heavy hand of industrialization. It is home to more than 100,000 caribou that make up the Porcupine caribou herd. These animals are the cultural lifeblood of the Gwich'in people and their primary food source. For the Gwich'in, the Arctic Refuge--specifically the coastal plain, where the caribou go to birth their calves--is the "sacred place where life begins." The coastal plain is also designated critical habitat for the threatened polar bear, and provides the most important land denning and nursery habitat in the United States for polar bears.
Putting a drill rig or pipeline in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be the willing destruction of an American treasure and, for the Gwich'in, and end to their way of life, which has spanned millennia.
There will never be a time to surrender and drill the Arctic Refuge. Now is the time to reduce fuel consumption and reinvest in clean, renewable energy that can power America, create jobs, and keep our national treasures intact.
- See the 10 priciest years in history for gas.
- See a collection of political cartoons on gas prices.
- Read East Coast Oil Infrastructure Remains Vulnerable.
- Other Arguments
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No — Federal agencies, oil companies are ill-equipped to respond to deadly messes that are part of the business
JESSICA ENNIS, Legislative Representative at Earthjustice
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No — Opening ANWR to oil and gas drilling will irreparably damage the fragile tundra and its wildlife
DAN RITZMAN, Alaska Program Director for the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats Campaign
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No — The Alaskan refuge belongs to the American people, not the oil industry
FRANCES BEINECKE, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council
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No — Oil speculated to be beneath the Arctic Refuge would add less than 1 percent to global oil production
CINDY SHOGAN, Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League
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Yes — Alaskans have consistently supported oil exploration on ANWR's coastal plain
JOHN FLEMING, U.S. Congressman
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Yes — We want to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil
DAN SULLIVAN, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources
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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
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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
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Reader Comments Read all comments (3)
M G WSNC of NC 3:39AM March 05, 2012
poet756 of SC 4:30PM February 19, 2012
Bert of AK 8:19AM November 08, 2011