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Alaska Oil Drilling

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Oil Drilling in Alaska’s Ecosystem
As America uses more oil then there is supplied, a great debate occurs on whether the government should plan to drill for oil in Alaska’s preserved wildlife sanctuary. The sanctuary is named the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve made to nurture animals and plants to stay safe with no human interference. America added multiple states in the 1800’s and 1900’s that had many resources underground which made settlers living in the United States think their natural resources would last forever, which quickly backfired. The government set aside pieces of land to protect the wildlife living among workers tearing nature apart. In 1980, the first oil crisis began, which made the United States buy oil from the Middle …show more content…
Many have hoped for jobs and money from the drilling but there are major downsides of the project. The economy would be disappointed with the amount of oil and it would not solve any problems oil related due to there only being about a six-month supply of oil in the Alaskan refuge. The oil from Alaska “would only reduce US oil imports 4%, having no real effect on prices or supply” states Document C. The economy would not grow or receive the amount of money they are hoping to collect from the oil project. Consuming the large amount of oil America does, drilling in one more spot with not much oil to consume would not do anything for the economy. “The US uses 25% to 30% of the oil produced in the world, yet has less than 3% of known oil reserves.” The only way to solve any problems concerning oil would be to have other options to slow down the use of oil in America. The economy could suffer from losing money by buying products for the oil project and not having enough profit to pay for the amount spent to start the …show more content…
The Inupiat people of Alaska would benefit from oil drilling financially. Jacob Adams, the Chairman and President of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation states that the community has “watched the oil and gas development at Prudhoe Bay… and have seen first-hand how development can co-exist with our natural resources and our way of life”. The development of oil drilling may be beneficial to the certain Eskimos, but overall it is not a popular idea for citizens. Congress tried to go through with a bill that would allow the drilling of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but the greater population shut the idea down in the Senate for multiple reasons. Americans have overused the wilderness for their own needs leading to a lack of safe environment for animals and wasting resources quicker than they can be produced. With the addition of new states in the late 1800’s, the United States was sure that the natural resources like oil could last even longer than a lifetime. The background essay states that settlers in America “saw the wilderness as a big candy store” acting as if oil could just be thrown around but they quickly realized an oil crisis was upon

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