Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1960 in northeastern Alaska to protect and maintain it's naturally functioning community of arctic and sub-arctic ecosystems. A variety of wildlife, including 36 fish species, 36 kinds of land mammals, over 160 bird species, and 9 marine animals, reside in this protected area. However, beneath this beautiful land, is a black gold mine. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that below the permafrost of the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, lies 11-31 billion barrels of oil. This has lead to a constant fight over oil drilling vs. wildlife preservation and conservation. Oil industry representatives argue that the demand for energy, and high prices of gasoline and heating oil, justify exploiting the refuge's oil resources. Oil drilling in ANWR will have a variety of negative effects on its delicate ecosystem including disruption of wildlife patterns, noise, pollution, and alteration of the land. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created to protect and maintain the lands' relatively undisturbed condition, and thus oil drilling should not be allowed in this protected area. The oil industry believes that the amount of oil located in the A
Another negative externality to consider when dealing with oil development is pollution. Along with oil drilling comes the emissions of nitrogen oxides, methane and carbon dioxide. Oil wells also extract more than 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily, that is reinjected to maintain pressure in the field and to store for later extraction. However, some excess gas is burned off into flares that reach 5-10 stories high. In addition 48,000-72,000 metric tons of nitrogen oxide is released per year and 96,000-144,000 metric tons of methane is released into the atmosphere (Pelley, 5). In addition to damage to the atmosphere, oil drilling will also damage the habitat of many animals. One of the first potential impacts of oil and gas development in the refuge is the effect it will have on the water supply of the area. Huge amounts of water are needed for oil-drilling, development, and ice road construction. According to the Bureau of Land Management the amount of water needed for oil development ranges in a 5 month period ranges from eight to fifteen million gallons ("Potential", 9). The problem with the water supply, is that oil companies are withdrawing surface water faster than it can be replenished. The construction of ice roads usually requires 1-1.5 million gallons of water per mile. When these ice roads melts, the water runs into surface streams and not into the original place of its withdrawal. Therefore the only replenishing source of water to the lakes comes from snowmelt. This may take more than two years to refill after the withdrawal of their water supply for ice road construction. The usage of water in oil development is changing the hydrology of the coastal plain. Certain areas in Alaska are requesting additional water to be piped in, because of the water depletion. Also the lack of water in the refuge means that water would have to be transported into the area. Meaning the construction of more gravel roads and pipelin
Some common words found in the essay are:
Land Management, Geological Survey, Alaska Snow, Wildlife Refuge, oil drilling, Arctic Refuge's, oil development, musk oxen, wildlife refuge, Arctic National, National Wildlife, national wildlife refuge, national wildlife, arctic national, arctic national wildlife, coastal plain, ice roads, water supply, oil resources, wildlife refuge created, water oil development, ice road construction,
Approximate Word count = 1322
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
