Is It Time to Drill in the Arctic Refuge? >
With ANWR We Can Take Immediate Steps to Boost Domestic Production
A long-term strategy for energy security must involve alternatives to petroleum-based fuels
November 3, 2011
About Robbie Diamond:
Robbie Diamond is the Founder, President and CEO of Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE). Diamond is also the President and CEO of the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by the nation's dependence on petroleum. Prior to his roles with SAFE and the Electrification Coalition, Diamond served as Deputy Director of Community Outreach on Senator Joe Lieberman's 2004 presidential campaign.
Yes, America should produce more of our domestic resources, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but we can't just focus on production to get real energy security.
Crude oil from Alaska's North Slope has played an important role in U.S. energy security since the late 1970s, and it is estimated that more than 10 billion barrels of additional oil may lie under ANWR's coastal plain. Under the right circumstances, ANWR could produce nearly a million barrels a day of oil. This production will create American jobs, help lower our trade deficit, and make the United States more energy secure. Currently, the U.S. is sending nearly a billion dollars a day overseas to purchase foreign oil. Our dependence on these imports has influenced our foreign policy in negative ways, requiring us to accommodate governments whose policies and values we often don't share.
[See a collection of political cartoons on gas prices.]
Our organization, Securing America's Future Energy, or SAFE, has recommended that the Department of Interior work with Alaska on a pilot program to demonstrate if extended-reach directional drilling could tap deposits under ANWR without establishing a surface presence in the refuge itself. The existence of adjacent projects on state land makes this possible.
It is important, however, to note that even with more domestic production, Americans will still be impacted at the gas pump by sudden price spikes. More domestic oil production is clearly necessary, but a long-term strategy for energy security must involve alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, the most promising of which is to dramatically ramp up the use of plug-in electric vehicles.
[Check out our Energy Intelligence blog.]
Electrification has the advantage of price stability, a diversity of domestic supply, and a nationwide infrastructure that is already built. A comprehensive effort to move the U.S. light-duty car and truck fleet away from oil would put the U.S. on a path toward true energy security.
In short, let's take immediate steps to boost domestic production and, at the same time, take the necessary steps that will reduce our nation's reliance on oil over the long-term.
- Read Obama Administration Must Open 'Energy Highways'.
- See a collection of political cartoons on energy policy.
- Read East Coast Oil Infrastructure Remains Vulnerable.
- Other Arguments
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#1478189
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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#2262149
No — The oil and gas industry should be exploring alternative energy, not alternative lands
WILLIAM H. MEADOWS, President of The Wilderness Society
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#3274174
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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#4217132
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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#5218138
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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#6189135
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#7242264
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#8214250
Yes — Alaskans have consistently supported oil exploration on ANWR's coastal plain
JOHN FLEMING, U.S. Congressman
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#9148232
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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#10149237
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#11142235
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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#13146247
