Drilling in Alaska the lesser of two evils

It’s of little wonder that a hurricane in Louisiana sparks
renewed interest in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
once you realize that oil is the common bond.

Indeed, ANWR’s reserves have never been more irresistible
than they are now, a time when we face off-line refineries in the
Gulf and $3 gas prices, as well as continuing strife in the Middle
East and months of crude-oil price hikes. Consequently, scheduled
Senate discussions of drilling in ANWR were delayed shortly after
Katrina struck.

While opening the refuge to drilling wouldn’t provide
needed oil or revenue for several more years ““ thus doing
nothing to alleviate our current problems ““ ANWR is again a
major issue because its oil may protect us from future fuel crises
or supply lags.

The refuge is expected to yield enough oil to satisfy U.S.
consumption for anywhere from 100 to 600 days. While by no means a
permanent solution to our energy needs, this supply would clearly
decrease need for imported oil.

It’s a short-term fix, but so is the whole process of oil
drilling; one day we’ll run out of oil in ANWR and one day
the world will run out of oil.

Still, conservation or renewable energy aren’t viable
alternatives: We’re driving larger cars and burning more
electricity than ever, and while leasing federal land for oil
production makes money, developing and implementing renewable
energy programs costs money.

The choice is not between whether we should or should not drill
in ANWR. The choice is between drilling in ANWR and drilling
elsewhere. And unfortunately, getting oil from the refuge is the
better of these two options.

While I am one of those environmentalists dreading the prospect
of drilling in Alaska, I believe it is the superior choice.

The oil-rich region of Alaska where drilling would take place is
a coastal plain home to bears, musk oxen, and, in the summer, a
129,000-strong herd of caribou and millions of migratory birds.

Drilling efforts, while not terribly land-intensive, are opposed
for two main reasons.

First, oil production would mar one of the few truly vast and
pristine wilderness areas left on earth. Second, it is likely that
breeding, migration, or other important behaviors of caribou and
musk oxen will be negatively impacted by the extraction
efforts.

Yet these sacrifices are in many regards less than those the
world would pay if the U.S. imported a comparable amount of oil
from elsewhere.

Drilling in Alaska will have to meet environmental standards
that are more stringent than in developing nations. A pipeline is
already in place from the nearby Prudhoe Bay, and as little as
2,000 of the park’s 19 million acres will be used .

Compare this to drilling in South America and the
“virtues” of Alaskan drilling become apparent.

In Ecuador, for example, drilling over the past thirty years has
been devastating, yet U.S. demand for oil has played a role in
construction of the new OCP (Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados) pipeline
which transports Ecuadorian oil for export.

Drilling efforts mean that rainforests whose biodiversity dwarfs
that of ANWR must be cleared to make way for bases, pipelines, and
maintenance roads. Indigenous peoples are displaced from their
ancestral land to make way for oil projects. Maintenance roads give
hunters access to previously remote stretches of rainforest and act
as avenues for development and logging.

Switch drilling from South America to the Middle East and the
situation hardly improves. More dependence on this unstable region
makes America even more vulnerable to embargoes, war, or other acts
that disrupt global trade or affect supply.

Admittedly, ANWR is a short-term fix, but that doesn’t
detract from the fact that its few billion barrels are preferable
to a few billion barrels elsewhere.

Most importantly, drilling in our own backyard will force us to
witness first-hand the effects of drilling on the environment.

If we are too short-sighted to conserve oil or find alternative
to it, than we should be the ones to endure the consequences of
oil-drilling.

Walsh is the activities coordinator with Environmental
Bruins.