-Caveat Lector-
Alaska oil drilling myths
By Ben Lieberman
December 20, 2005
Drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) makes
so much sense, it's no wonder opponents must twist the facts to make it
controversial. Yesterday, at last, common sense prevailed when the House
passed by 308-106 a bill to authorize development of ANWR.
We're talking about 10 billion barrels of domestic oil in an area
where there has been a proven track record for environmentally responsible
drilling. Yet a host of tall tales from environmental activists and
like-minded journalists has made it a tough fight in Washington.
The current action in Congress involves adding ANWR drilling to the
defense appropriations bill. Given continued high oil prices and political
turmoil in many oil-producing nations, now seems to offer a good chance to
get ANWR done. But this will finally occur only if the ANWR myths are
exposed. Here are several:
ANWR drilling would harm the environment. Some perspective is helpful
to understand the ecological insignificance of ANWR drilling. ANWR
comprises 19 million acres in Northeast Alaska, 17.5 million of which are
totally off-limits to drilling or any other kind of economic activity.
This is why the news footage showing beautiful snowcapped mountains is
misleading, because the drilling would not be allowed anywhere near those
areas. Only the flat and featureless coastal plain would be affected, and
even there only a small portion of its 1.5 million acres. The current
version of the bill limits the surface disturbance to 2,000 acres, a small
piece of a big coastal plain in a very big wildlife refuge in the biggest
state in the Union.
Oil wells would despoil one of the few remaining pristine places.
Again, the vast majority of ANWR will be completely unaffected by
drilling. It would occur only on a small part of the coastal plain where
there already is some human habitation. There are plenty of truly pristine
places in Alaska worth preserving, but ANWR's coastal plain isn't one of
them. As it is, Alaska has 141 million acres of protected lands, an area
equal to the size of California and New York combined.
Drilling is incompatible with National Wildlife Refuges. Drilling
critics have tried to confuse wildlife refuges with national parks,
wilderness areas and other more highly protected categories of federal
lands. But national wildlife refuges typically allow limited mining,
logging, drilling, ranching or other activities. Indeed, the statute
creating ANWR contemplated future oil production on the coastal plain,
subject to congressional approval. It is worth noting that another
wildlife refuge in Alaska, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, has had
drilling onsite for decades. The oil production there rarely makes the
news because it has not caused any problems, even though Kenai has far
more wildlife than ANWR.
Oil development harms local wildlife. An extensive track record
proves otherwise. In addition to Kenai, Alaska has oil drilling in the
Prudhoe Bay field, only 55 miles west of ANWR. Prudhoe Bay has produced
more than 10 billion barrels of oil since the 1970s, which has been
transported through the Alaska pipeline to the domestic market in the
Lower 48 states. Decades of studies show this oil production has affected
the environment negligibly. Environmental opponents of drilling cannot
cite a single species driven toward extinction or even a decline in
numbers attributable to Prudhoe Bay. That drilling also was done with
decades-old technology and methods far less environmentally sensitive than
ANWR would require.
Caribou herds will be devastated. Environmentalists have been
particularly excessive in predicting dire harm to the herd of caribou that
migrate through ANWR. But the caribou migrating through Prudhoe Bay have
increased from 3,000 to 23,000 since drilling began in 1977.
Alaskans oppose ANWR drilling. In fact, polls regularly show 75
percent or more of Alaskans support drilling. This includes the native
Alaskans who live near the potential drilling site. But the few who oppose
drilling get most of the media attention. Alaskans know firsthand that
resource extraction can co-exist with environmental protection. They also
know how silly are the environmental gloom-and-doom predictions: They have
heard such nonsense for decades.
If the average American, and his or her representative in Congress,
knew the facts as well as the average Alaskan, ANWR drilling wouldn't be
controversial. Fortunately, it's not too late for the Senate to join the
House's common-sense step and boost domestic oil supplies by allowing ANWR
drilling.
Ben Lieberman is a senior policy analyst in the Thomas A. Roe
Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
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