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Drilling For Oil : Good For The Economy

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Eric Hatfield ENGL 2010 Prof. Johansen 11/8/15 Drilling for Oil in Alaska: Good for the Economy. Bad for the Environment On average, each individual American consumes 1.89 gallons of oil a day.( http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=33&t=6) Oil has become such an integral part of our modern society. In fact, Americans rank as the biggest oil consuming country.() This dependence on oil has become such a powerful driving force for our economy, and the demand for more oil has driven our domestic oil resources very thin. Americans have become more reliant on imported oil than ever before. () However, there is a place in America that is considered a goldmine for oil and it is a place that has been seemingly untouched for centuries. This area could potentially hold enough oil to solve America’s economic woes. This place is called the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or “ANWR.” ANWR exists on the North Slope of Alaska and encompasses about 19 million acres. It is an extremely remote place and contains only one town with a population of 300 people in the entire refuge. ANWR has been at the forefront of environmental policy debate for over thirty years now. There is a battle going on between those who seek to drill within the refuge for oil interests, and those who seek to prohibit drilling due to environmental concerns. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground between the two. This article will explain the advantages of drilling, the potential risks that drilling has on the

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