Expert answer:Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alas
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GEL 1 writing assignment #2
Fall, 2017
Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska
be Opened for Oil Exploration?
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, pronounced ‘Anwar’) sprawls across the North Slope
of northeastern Alaska, including part of the Brooks Range and the broad coastal plain that slopes
northward toward the Beaufort Sea. (See a map at the bottom of this file.) Nearly as large as Maine,
ANWR is home to wolves, grizzly and polar bears, moose and caribou, muskox and countless
waterfowl. But oil and natural gas likely exist beneath ANWR, in potentially large amounts
approaching 7 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Oil companies and the
current U.S. government would like the 1002 Area of ANWR open to oil exploration and
production.
The controversy: Should the 1002 Area of ANWR remain pristine, reserved for the wildlife that it
harbors, or should the 1002 Area be explored to increase our domestic oil supply and reduce
dependence on foreign oil imports?
Background
The Alaskan North Slope oil boom began in 1968 with the discovery of oil around Prudhoe Bay. Oil
was eventually transported in 1977 along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to the ice-free port of Valdez
along the southern Alaskan coast. Today, North Slope oil supplies a quarter of domestic output.
Trans-Alaska pipeline
If the 1002 Area were open today, oil production would probably begin by about 2021. Production
would likely peak around 2035 at about 1 million barrels per day, just under 4% of our projected
domestic energy needs. Development would require: 1) a new grid of seismic exploration surveys,
with attendant scarring by equipment, but minimal effect on wildlife, 2) ice roads, airstrips and
exploration wells, and 3) a network of oil fields, processing plants and pipelines. Oil companies say
they can develop the area with a minimum of environmental damage. But what might the real effect
be? Can the oil industry actually explore and develop the region without causing more than
cosmetic damage? Or will they irreparably harm the ecology of the region?
The reality is that you and me and the rest of the civilized world depend on oil to maintain our
modern way of life. We use it in our cars (as gasoline), we fly on jet fuel, we use it to create plastics
and synthetic fabrics, we use it in paint, rubber and pesticides, and the make-up some of you are
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wearing was made from petroleum. Despite a dramatic increase in domestic production over the
last decade, America imports about 10 million barrels per day from about 70 countries. This
foreign source of oil constituted about 25% of total U.S. consumption in 2016. We use about 19
million barrels of oil per day, mostly as gasoline for our car-centric society. This total is about 20%
of total global consumption, more than China and Russia combined. We don’t live in a digital age, or
a post-industrial age, or a solar age (yet), but rather we live in the oil age.
Paper 2 Details
For your assignment, write a 5-6 page point-of-view paper that lays out as coherently as
possible your opinion on whether we should open the 1002 Area of ANWR for exploration.
The paper should be double-spaced with 1″ margins – use a 12 font. We’d like you to research the
issue using the links below to get started. Build your paper using as many references as you find
necessary. Your references may be all from the web, or they may be from newspapers or reputable
newsmagazines. The “References Cited” section constitutes part of page 7 of your paper. This
paper is due at the beginning of your discussion during the week of Nov. 27 – Dec. 1. (This is the
week after Thanksgiving break, so plan accordingly.)
We don’t care about your politics and we want you to reassure you that you should feel secure that you
are not going to be graded on your political slant. We are going to judge only one thing: your ability to
present a clear argument.
You’ve had a writing workshop and you’ll receive editorial feedback on your first paper from your
TA. Be sure to incorporate the lessons learned into this second paper. If you lost points on the first
paper because you didn’t carefully follow the guidelines in “WritingGEL1papers.pdf” then be sure
not to make that mistake again. Of course you’ll want to provide as much evidence and data as
possible to support your argument.
Be sure to include any maps, figure, or graphs if they enhance your document. Any illustrations
don’t count in your page total.
Some questions to consider (or not) when writing your paper
1) What is the North Slope of Alaska and where is Prudhoe Bay? How much oil did we expect to find
there? How much have we already found? How much do we expect to find in ANWR?
2) How will the crude oil from ANWR be transported away from the production sites? Will it be possible
to use the 800-mile long trans-Alaska oil pipeline to ship the oil to the Gulf of Alaska or does a new
pipeline have to be built? Once the oil reaches the Gulf of Alaska, how will it be moved to the lower
48 states or to Japan?
3) In November 2002, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on the Denali Fault in Alaska. The transAlaska pipeline crosses the Denali Fault. Was the pipeline damaged in the earthquake? What about
larger earthquakes that have occurred in Alaska such as the 1964 earthquake in Prince William
Sound? Would an earthquake of that size adversely affect the pipeline or the pipeline terminal in
Valdez?
4) What happened in Prince William Sound in March of 1989? Why did the Exxon Valdez run aground?
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What was the impact of that event on the environment and the local fishing economy? What measures
have been taken to prevent a recurrence of that disaster? Are those measures sufficient?
5) What will be the impact of drilling operations on the ecosystems of ANWR? What types of wildlife
will be primarily affected? How can drill sites be designed to minimize these impacts? Why might it
be preferable to transport equipment in the dead of winter over icy roads rather than in the relative
warmth of summer?
6) What are the consequences of increasing our dependence on oil and natural gas in a world who’s
climate is changing? Is it wise to exploit every last drop of oil or might it be best to leave it in the
ground? What other energy resource to we have that might replace oil and natural gas?
A few web resources to get started:
• Pros and cons of drilling in ANWR: https://healthresearchfunding.org/pros-and-cons-ofdrilling-in-anwr/
•
Views from the native peoples of northern Alaska: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sciencenature/anwr-the-great-divide-69848411/
•
One site against drilling: http://www.defenders.org/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge
•
One site in favor of drilling: http://www.anwr.org/
Composed by DAO, Oct. 2017
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