The pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to polar bears, brown bears, musk oxen, and wolves, along with millions of migratory birds and the Porcupine caribou herd, which migrates thousands of miles to calve there during the summer months. The Gwich'in people depend upon this annual migration for their subsistence way of life, calling the coastal plain "the place where life begins." This 1.5-million-acre area between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean is the biological heart of the 19 million acres designated by Congress in 1980 as a national wildlife refuge.
Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would do nothing to solve America's energy problems, and would ruin a beloved and pristine wildlife haven forever. Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to this misguided scheme -- but some members of Congress simply refuse to stop trying to sneak, hide, or force Arctic Drilling through Congress.
Over the last few years, the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge has been at serious risk many times. But thanks in a large part to the millions of Americans who stood up against a number of outrageous proposals, including attempts to slip Arctic drilling into the budget as well as the bill that funds our troops at war, this pristine treasure is finally safe ...at least for now.
We do not expect to see serious attempts to open the Refuge to oil drilling in the current 110th Congress. But this wildlife haven will not be truly safe until Congress grants it permanent wilderness protection, barring oil and gas development from the Refuge once and for all.
Permanent protection for the Refuge
On January 10, 2007, U.S. Representatives Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN) introduced a bill to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as an official wilderness area, permanently protecting this pristine wildlife and cultural haven from oil drilling and other destructive activities.
This legislation is vital in spotlighting the incalculable value of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the special role of the coastal plain, its biological heart and the sacred place for the Gwich’in people. The area is also home to denning polar bear, recently acknowledged as threatened by global warming.
If passed, the "Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act" will be the culmination of promises made to future Americans by both President Eisenhower, who established the core of the Refuge, and by Rep. Morris Udall, who championed legislation doubling its size in 1980. For more on the bill’s history, read Congressman Markey’s inspiring introduction.
Earthjustice will be working with Congress to pass legislation both to permanently protect the unspoiled majesty Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for future generations and to control our nation’s insatiable appetite for oil with energy solutions that move our country toward cleaner, smarter, renewable sources of energy that do not threaten the life of the planet.
Fuzzy math
While drilling proponents assert that the oil "footprint" would cover just 2, 000 acres, the reality is that the spider web of roads and pipelines necessary to wrest oil from this unique landscape would broadly and permanently damage an enormous swath of the coastal plain.
The numbers that drilling supporters use to support their arguments just don't hold up. The average estimates of the recoverable oil under the refuge claim only about 10.4 billion barrels, or enough to supply all U.S. needs for about six months. And these estimates are speculative at best, based on decades-old data and shifting gas prices.
 |
| Wolves |
| Photo by US Fish & Wildlife Service |
Despite these shaky underpinnings, drilling supporters confidently project that the oil industry will pay billions to lease the right to extract oil from the refuge. They assume that the entire 1.5 million acre coastal plain would be leased, and that oil companies would pay a premium to drill there -- more than 80 times the average of other Arctic leases over the past decade.
However, many of the world's major oil and gas companies have shown only lukewarm interest at best in seeking Arctic Refuge oil. Both ConocoPhillips and BP have now withdrawn their support from Arctic Power, a pro-Refuge-drilling lobby group financed by the state of Alaska. Chevron Texaco claims to have withdrawn from Arctic Power in 2000, but they remain the target of a shareholder resolution asking the company to report on the risks of operating in sensitive areas such as the Arctic Refuge. The chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil said, "I don't know if there is anything in [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] or not."
In fact, America does not need to tap the oil beneath the Arctic Refuge -- by merely inflating the tires on our cars properly, Americans could save more than the amount of oil that the refuge is estimated to contain. Expanding and developing alternative forms of energy is another solution to the energy challenges facing our nation.
Print this page
Email this page
