Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Be Opened to

Oil Drilling?

Reasons Against

By: Mark Bryson

Intro to ANWR

• ANWR – Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

• Established in 1980 as part of the Alaska National Interests Land Conservation Act.

• Deferred a decision regarding future management and drilling in ANWR when it was established.

• Petroleum Assessment in 1987 performed by the Department of the Interior(DOI).

Location of ANWR

Location of ANWR(continued)

Reasons Against Drilling

I. The crude oil deposits there are not significant enough to meet the energy needs of the U.S.

II. We do now know what the effects of drilling in ANWR will have upon the Porcupine Caribou.

III. The infrastructure(oil platforms, pipelines, roads and support facilities) needed to facilitate that drilling will cost a considerable amount of money to put into place and irreversibly damage a protected wildlife refuge.

IV.Alaska has been prone to oil spills

Volume of Crude Oil

• As of 1998 USGS Assessment

• Estimated to be between 4.3 and 11.8 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil with a Mean value of 7.7 Billion Barrels of Oil.

• Technically Recoverable Oil = Volume of Petroleum representing that proportion of assessed in-place resources that may be recoverable using current recovery technology without regard to cost.

• Oil is expected to occur in a number of accumulations rather than in a single large accumulation.

• U.S Consumption of Oil

• 20,680,000 barrels/day * 365 Days = 75,482,000,000

• 11.8 Billion/ 75 Billion Barrels = 15.6% U.S Consumption

• Sources:

• UGS Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1002 Area, Petroleum assessment, 1998, Including Economic Analysis

• Energy Information Administration, Official Statistics for the U.S Government, U.S Petroleum Consumption, February 2009.

Porcupine Caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti)

• Named for Porcupine River

• The porcupine caribou's calving ground encompasses a considerable percentage of the ANWR.

Caribou Migratory Pattern

• In springtime

• The caribou move northward to coastal plain of the Beaufort Sea. This is the area where yearly calving occurs.

• In wintertime

• The caribou migrate southward to the valleys north of the Ogilvie Mountains. On the eastern edge of their range, strong winter winds keep snow from accumulating in the Richardson Mountains. In the west, the Chandalar Mountains protect these migrating animals from cold winter weather that blows in from the Bering Sea.

Year in the Life of a Porcupine Caribou

• April – Head North to Calving Grounds.

• June – Pregnant Females reach calving areas and give birth.

• June and July – Hordes of Mosquito's hatch. Caribou Gather in Herds of 10 of thousands. Move along coast to ice fields in search of relief from the insects.

• Mid – July – Head south to fall and wintering areas.

Central Arctic Caribou and Petroleum Development:Distributional, Nutritional, and Reproductive Implications

• Study done in 2004 by Brad Griffith and his associates at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.• Avoidance of Infrastructure• During July and August, Caribou were relatively

unsuccessful in crossing road/pipeline corridors.

• Source: Griffith, Brad et al. (2004) Central Arctic Caribou and Petroleum Development: Distributional, Nutritional, and Reproductive Implications. Arctic. Vol 58. No. 1., (March 2005) P. 1-9.

Needed Infrastructure

• Infrastructure

• Oil platforms

• Pipelines

• Roads

• and support facilities.

Alaska Plauged by Oil Spill Accidents

• March 19889- Exxon Valdez Spill – Exxon Valdez Oil Tanker spilled 10.9 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound, Alaska.

• March 2006 - a corroded pipeline dumped 200,000 gallons of crude oil onto the tundra at Prudhoe Bay. BP Oil pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor over the spill and was fined $20 million.

• April 2007, a tanker truck leaked 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel onto a frozen pond and the surrounding tundra in Prudhoe Bay.

• Sources:

• BP set to plead in Prudhoe Bay pipeline case. Reuters. 29 Nov 2007. 22 Feb 2009

• Truck spills diesel at Prudhoe Bay. Petroleum News. 15 Apr 2007. 22 Feb 2009.