preview

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge : Drilling For Oil Essay

Good Essays

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, commonly referred to as ANWR has been the source of media and political controversy for the last twenty years and has only increased in recent years. President Eisenhower reserved this land in 1960 to preserve and protect the native and diverse plants and wildlife. When oil was discovered in the Prudhoe Bay a determined group consisting of large oil corporations, politicians and locals insisted that exploration in the wildlife refuge would lessen the United States dependence to foreign oil, there would be numerous economic benefits and could be achieved with an inconsequential effect on the environment. Opponents of drilling reject this argument citing grave environmental concerns. These adversaries that include many environmental groups argue that the various economic benefits associated with drilling in ANWR are not significant enough to warrant the destruction of one of the last remaining pristine wildernesses. The costs associated with drilling evident in oil spills, changes in habitat and the possible extinction of Polar bears and wolves demonstrate that the benefits of drilling for oil does not outweigh the negative consequences. In 2015, President Barack Obama pushed policy to ban oil exploration by designating more than 22 million acres in Alaska of which 12 million are part of the ANWR (Bourne). Background Alaska became an official state of the United States in 1960.

Get Access