Place: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska)
Threat: Oil Drilling
Located in the northeast corner of Alaska, the 19 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of America's greatest wild natural treasures.
It is a remote and pristine wilderness, untouched by development. Nestled between the Brooks Mountain Range and the shores of the Beaufort Sea, the narrow coastal plain of the refuge is truly the heart of biological activity in this untamed wilderness. The foothills, braided rivers and tundra of the coastal plain is home to a diversity of wildlife unlike any other place in the United States.
The shores along the Beaufort sea is one of the most important on-shore denning areas for polar bears in the United States. Musk-oxen, reintroduced in the wake of over hunting, have made a comeback on the coastal palin and rely on its resources year-round. Grizzly bear and wolves roam the open tundra and Dall sheep thrive in the foothills of the mountains. More than 130 species of birds rely on the coastal plain for breeding, nesting and migratory stopovers on trips from the Baja peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay as well as every state in the lower 48.
The coastal plain is also the calving grounds of the 130,000 member Porcupine River caribou herd. Each spring, these caribou migrate over 400 miles to reach the coastal plain where they give birth to their young and feed on the abundant plant life. These animals sustain the Gwich'in Indians of interior Alaska and Canada whose traditional life is inextricably linked with the caribou which provide food clothing and medicine. The Gwich'in call the coastal plain "the sacred place where life begins."
But the Arctic Refuge is in peril, targeted by the Bush Administration and the oil industry for full-scale oil development. During the 2000 campaign, President Bush pledged to open the open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling and Administration has since made Arctic drilling the centerpiece of the Bush-Cheney energy plan. Using rising oil prices and the war with Iraq as justification, Bush has touted Arctic drilling as the answer to our nation's energy security and national security needs.
But opening the Arctic Refuge to drilling is not the answer to our country's energy needs. No one knows how much oil may lie beneath the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, but Government experts have determined that the mean estimate of economically recoverable oil is 3.2 billion barrel--less than the US consumes in just six months.
Even the oil industry says it would take ten years to bring that oil to market. Moreover, when America sits on less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves and yet consumes more than 25 percent of the world's oil, we cannot drill our way out of the problem. As long as we are dependent on oil, we will be dependent on foreign oil.
“Allowing drilling in the Arctic Refuge will guarantee destruction of this national treasure,” says Sara Callaghan-Chapell with the Sierra Club in Alaska.
One look at Prudhoe Bay, 60 miles to the west of the Refuge, where oil conglomerates have irreparably damaged the fragile tundra and its wildlife, proves that oil and wildlife don't mix. Drilling for oil and gas there would require 280 miles of roads, hundreds of miles of pipelines, 50 million cubic yards of gravel scoured from nearby ponds and rivers, and massive production facilities.
“The coastal plain of the Arctic refuge is the only remaining stretch of the Arctic coastline not open to oil and gas leasing. We cannot sacrifice such a unique landscape,” says Chapell.
There is a better way. We don't have to plunder our last remaining wildlands to meet our country's energy needs. America can pursue simple steps to cut our dependence on oil -- whether foreign or domestic. Our nation needs a comprehensive energy policy based on conservation, alternative energy sources, and improved efficiency standards -- such as making our cars go farther on a gallon of gas. Such a strategy will decrease our dependence on oil, reduce pollution, and spare national treasures like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for future generations to enjoy.
