The United States should drill for oil in the ANWR - Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve :: essays research papers

Proposition: The United States should drill for oil in the ANWR. Significance: Right now, The United States of America languishes in an economic decline. Jobs are being lost. Drilling in the ANWR will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Also, 80% of Alaska’s state revenues are oil. With the North Slope oil fields in decline, Alaskans could lose jobs. Drilling in the ANWR will create jobs for Alaskans. As Jennie Wodkowski, who has lived in Alaska for 34 years said, â€Å"Oil’s important. We don’t have anything else going on here.† Rationale: 1. Harms the Environment 2. Costs Billions 3. Nobody willing to Drill 4. Not much Oil 5. Won’t create jobs 6. Not worth the time My opponents 1st/2nd/3rd contention was the drilling in the ANWR will harm the environment. This is absolutely incorrect. Lets put this into perspective, the ANWR is 19.6 million acres out of Alaska, which is 240 million acres. The proposed drilling in the coastal plain will be 1.5 million acres. Now, with the new technology we have today, we can tap into the 1.5 million acre oil supply with an oil area that is 2000 acres. 2000 acres is 1/10000 or .0001% of the ANWR. 1.5 million acres of oil and a minuscule possibility of harming at max, 1/10000, I repeat 1/10000th if the ANWR. (Arctic Power) Also, drilling in Alaska will not harm the wildlife. Take Prudhoe Bay for example. The Central Arctic Caribou Herd that occupies Prudhoe Bay has grown from a population of 6000 in 1978 to 27000 today. This is a 450% growth over 26 years at an average of 17.3% growth per year. (Arctic Power) That’s quite an increase. Furthermore, the ANWR is not a pristine wilderness with magnificent wilderness and beautiful wildlife at every corner. That is a illusion generated by anti – drilling supporters. The truth is that in the wintertime, the ANWR is 60 degrees below and 99 degrees below if you count the wind-chill factor. As Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska said â€Å"It (the ANWR) is hell in the wintertime. This is not some pristine place that should be protected.† Drilling will not harm wildlife or the environment. My opponents 1st/2nd/3rd contention was that drilling in Alaska will cost billions. True, drilling in Alaska will cost billions but the positive impact on the U.S. economy far outweighs the cost. Also, the billions of dollars it will cost to drill in the ANWR will be mostly paid by companies who want to develop into the ANWR, not the U.