National Wildlife Refuge Research Paper

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Drilling for Oil in the Arctic Refuge The continued decrease in fossil fuels in the world today has caused some major concern. With the decrease in fossil fuel, we see the price of gas rise everyday with concern on how long we will be able to continue to rely on fossil fuels. With the United States relying heavily on foreign imports for oil, it has caused for the need to find a supply within the country. With so much reliance on foreign oil has caused all fingers to point at the oil reserve found to be below the National Wildlife Refuge, which is protected by the government. The argument over the oil refuge has raised a major reaction by many environmental groups to not allow the refuge to be us for the benefit of people or the United States.…show more content…
The arctic refuge has been looked at for years as a possible place to drill for oil, but was abandoned when the oil market collapsed in the 1980’s. This land is home to many different kinds of animals such as seabirds, caribou, polar bears, and the bowhead whale.(Lavelle p1) Drilling in the refuge causes a major concern against the drilling for oil in the arctic refuge due to the fact that it would disturb the animals and change their natural habitat. It could cause the species to leave the area and settle in unfamiliar territory, which could lead to a decrease in the population of the species. With the area that the animals live in already shrinking, there is no need to shrink the little bit of natural habitat that have left to drill for oil. There is also a major concern of what it would do globally to the permafrost. With the world already concerned with shrinking of the ice and the glaciers, environmentalists are concerned that the steam from the oil drilling would also do damage to the already shrinking glaciers. The arctic refuge which is considered a majestic area and the last true frontier would also have to have a pipeline running through the area to help with the transportation of oil. (Mouawad…show more content…
The oil in the refuge would have an effect on foreign oil dependency and cost of gasoline, but not enough to make a major difference. It is questioned that the refuge may only contribute to a fraction of the United States oil, with the United States already receiving about 52 percent of its oil from foreign countries. The refuge has been projected that it would only reduce oil dependency by a small fraction. The United States consumes approximately about 3 million barrels of a day and at that rate what is projected to be in the refuge would only be able to supply the United States for 6 months. In a more extended look at it over the next 20 years, the oil refuge would only be able to meet 7.5 percent of the United States consumption of oil and as well as reduce the dependence of foreign oil by 15 percent. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has said that it would only be 0.4 to 1.2 percent of the world’s oil production. With the oil in the refuge only making a small impact it makes it hard to justify why drilling would be worth the harm for such a small gain of oil that may only last up to a couple of months or years. There could be more oil saved than there would be produced by drilling for oil in the arctic refuge. Environmentalists purpose that there may be a better way for money to be spent by putting it into more of

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