link: www.scwf.org
Pristine Wilderness Sacrificed--The Tale of ANWR: Arctic National (oil) Well Refinery
Last month the United States Senate voted to include a provision to open America’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling in its version of a federal budget bill that passed on March 17, 2005. Regrettably, South Carolina Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham were among the Senators that voted to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.
The 51-49 vote approving the federal budget bill protected a provision that will allow drilling to begin as early as this year. The provision provides a 2,000 acre limitation but opens up the entire 1.5 million acres to oil and gas leasing, exploration, development and production activities.
“Today’s vote is a victory for energy independence, and it only happened because Americans elected a larger Republican majority,” said U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). “Voters are tired of partisan politics. They want results.”
Actually, bipartisan surveys show that Americans may want results, but they don’t want to drill the refuge. Opposition towards drilling has been leading by a margin of 53%-35%, with only 10% of Americans undecided. In fact, most think that conserving energy and finding alternative energy sources is a much better idea. Only 18% think that drilling more oil to increase domestic supplies is the answer to reduce foreign dependence. An overwhelming 73% of Americans find the issue “too important to the American public and future generations to be snuck through” in the budget process, according to the bipartisan polling panel.
“Voters are starting to understand the value of preserving these pristine wild places,” said Angela Viney, executive director of SCWF. “This has become an issue of values over consumption and public policy and our representatives should reflect that.”
Many proponents, like U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) undermine the ecological footprint that drilling would leave.
“ANWR is about the size of the state of South Carolina. The drilling footprint is about 2,000 acres, the size of a large airport,” said Senator Graham. “New technologies in drilling and the need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil are the reasons I support limited exploration in ANWR.”
What is in this refuge that is so important to protect? It is home to 36 species of land mammals, including all three species of the North American bear: the polar, black and grizzly, and is the only national conservation area where the bears regularly den. The Dall Sheep have inhabited the refuge since the early Pleistocene Era. Nine species of marine mammals and at least 36 species of fish are native to the refuge, and seasonal migrations bring 180 birds from six different countries.
The environmental degradation is not worth the limited amount of available oil. Some governmental reports state there may be as much as 16 billion barrels of oil, which at current consumption rates would last us less than three years. The U.S. Geological Survey, however, has issued statements it is more likely that 3 to 4 billion barrels of oil would be recovered, which would last this country six months.
It is true that only 2,000 acres would be open for drilling, but the limitation applies only to “surface acreage covered by production and support facilities.” What is not included is what will do the most harm, such as highly invasive seismic exploration activities, pipeline and road construction and the gravel mines required for roads. In addition, the limitation is not for a contiguous area. A total of 2,000 acres are open for excavation and can be distributed throughout the 1.5 million acres in small but destructive increments.
If you want to see how big this footprint is really going to be look at the Prudhoe Bay North Slope drilling projects already in effect. These oilfields, the largest in North America, have been in operation since 1977. The Environmental Impact Statement of predicted impacts to the region revealed only a fraction of what actually took place. Gravel mines in the area have extracted four times more gravel and twice the road mileage has been constructed than initially listed.
There has been an average of 400 spills annually on the North Slope since 1995, more than one per day. It has created 55 contaminated waste sites and currently emits more than twice the amount of ozone depleting and acid rain causing oxides and nitrogen released by Washington D.C.
The Alpine Facility, part of the North Slope project, is being used as a model for drilling and excavation projections.
The 100 acre facility required over 1 million cubic yards of gravel to fill 100 acres of wetland tundra, as well as a 150 acre gravel mine. Two airstrips were also built to accommodate what oil companies said would be only thirteen flights a month. Between June 1 and July 15, 2000, an average of 44 flights per day occurred. 24,654 gallons of toxic manmade fuels, used to make pumping easier, spilled into the Colville River, and other activities at the field caused 170 spills totaling 36,000 gallons of hazardous substances by 2004.
By 2004 even the Army Corps of Engineers had documented the negative effects of the Alpine drilling, stating that the cumulative effects of the project had turned this once pristine wilderness into an industrial zone.
Excavation and oil companies want to build at least eight similar facilities in the newly opened refuge.
It is no secret that the United States has become greedy in its consumption of natural resources. According to the Department of Energy we make up 10% of the world’s population, hold 5% of the world’s oil reserves, yet demand 25% of the world’s oil supplies. The destruction of an incredible resource such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for any amount of oil would be a travesty, and will have effects that will reach far into the future.
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