OK..here we go...
First of all, I want to correct a very common misconception. The area where the oil companies want to drill is inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. HOWEVER, 8% of ANWR IS NOT in protected status and that is the area that the companies want to drill. I know that it is strange that an area of land inside a refuge is not protected, but it is not. That area of land, also known as the 1002 area, has neither refuge nor wilderness status. It was specifically set aside for investigation of its oil and gas potential in 1980 when ANWR was created. Therefore, there is no need for me to contact my legislators to have them amend anything...because the remaining 92%, or 17.5 million acres, has been given wilderness or refuge status and is already permanently protected against development.
Next point...I would like to address the myth that there is only a 6-9 month supply of oil available. This is a very misleading statistic. If we pumped all the oil out of ANWR and only used that oil, not any oil from anywhere else, including the rest of Alaska, than, yes, it would only last 6-9 months. But that isn't how it works. We wouldn't shut down all the other oil fields and use only that oil. The truth is, it is estimated that there are between 6 and 16 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in the study area. Averaging those numbers, we come up with about 11 billion barrels. Technically recoverable oil is the amount of oil that actually comes out of the ground, since you can’t get it all. The USGS used a very conservative 37% recovery factor in their ANWR assessment. At Prudhoe Bay the recovery factor is over 60%. If the recovery factor in ANWR fields can match Prudhoe Bay then the technically recoverable average increases to about 18 billion barrels. Currently, the Transalaska Pipeline is flowing at less than half of its 2.2 million barrel capacity. If ANWR oil was pumped at 1 million barrels per day, the ANWR oil alone would last for over 49 years.
My last point concerns the effect on wildlife. In 1965, when development of Prudhoe Bay began, the Central Arctic Caribou Herd, which migrates through Prudhoe Bay, was estimated to be at around 3,000 animals. As of 2002, the herd is now estimated to be at 32,000 animals. The caribou continue to calve in and around the oil fields. It has been documented that the Central Arctic Herd has a higher cow/calf ratio than other nearby herds. Now, I am not going to pretend that the oil fields have caused the increase in numbers. However, I find it very difficult for anyone to argue that it has negatively impacted them. To prove that it helps them, I think, would be an impossible task.
Thank you.
