Points About A.N.W.R.

What is ANWR? These letters stand for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is located, as you can see, in the upper northeast portion of Alaska. This is the area that is at issue with regard to oil drilling in the United States, along with coastal waters. We had the chance to ameliorate the situation back in 2002 yet failed to grasp the opportunity. What kind of find might be made in ANWR? It is estimated:

Geologists agree that the Coastal Plain has the nation's best geologic prospects for major new onshore oil discoveries. According to the Department of Interior's 1987 resource evaluation of ANWR's Coastal Plain, there is a 95% chance that a 'super field' with 500 million barrels would be discovered. DOI also estimates that there exists a mean of 3.5 billion barrels, and a 5% chance that a large Prudhoe Bay type discovery would be made.

I am a great advocate of drilling off our national coastlines and in ANWR, if for no other reason than to buttress our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for military needs. Yes, conversion to petroleum would take "time." So what? Not acting guarantees that nothing will occur.

The Left seems to believe that drilling in ANWR is the Conservatives' only answer to the oil energy problem. On the other hand, the only answer proffered by The Left to energy is "conserve." Energy solutions come via a multi-layered and multi-pronged attack. Conservation is but one aspect; drilling off the coast and in ANWR is only one aspect.


On this vein, I reproduce here portions of a circulating e-mail of which we all need to be aware:

1. ANWR is in the ANWR Coastal plain:




2. This is ANWR's relationship to the state of Alaska:






3. The delineated coastal plain is the target point of drilling, not the entire area in yellow, and not directly on the coast itself.

4. From the ANWR website, this is what the ANWR looks like.

5. This is ANWR in winter:



6. ANWR in summer (next two photographs):

7. Google Maps (2) indicates where the drilling is to occur -- a barren wasteland, essentially:

8. Here is the "depleted wildlife" situation seen (in summer) created by drilling near Prudhoe Bay (P. Bay accounts for 17% of US domestic oil production):

9. The same location in winter:

10. Here, wildlife avoids the drilling area:

Again, I repeat: drilling off our coasts or in ANWR is no guarantee of reduced pricing or markedly increased production, and certainly not immediately. But I still advocate drilling if for no other reason than to supplement our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Left expects that an entire energy paradigm shift can occur overnight. Simply, for example, converting immediately to electric vehicles guarantees the entire tanking of our national electric grid, due to undercapacity and no new electrical generation stations having been built. That too, just like drilling in ANWR, would take that proverbial "minimum of ten years" -- but that's only if The Religious Left don't interfere in environmental terms.

BZ