Tammy Baldwin for Congress Blog
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Drilling in Alaska is unnecessary and wrong
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Location: Blogs Tammy BaldwinEnvironment |
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| Posted by: Tammy Baldwin |
11/12/2007 12:09 PM |
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a spectacular 19 million acres of land situated in the northeast corner of Alaska. East of Prudhoe Bay, it stretches from the mountains of the Brooks Range to the flat coastal plain.
The refuge was established to protect and conserve some of our nation’s most pristine wilderness and wildlife—animals such as caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, wolves, snow geese, and peregrine falcons.
It is a very special piece of land because amazingly, as far as experts know, all indigenous species of plants and animals still thrive there and no non-indigenous species have invaded the refuge.
Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has targeted an area within the refuge to drill for oil and gas. The targeted area is a birthing ground for caribou, a sanctuary for hundreds of species of birds and waterfowl, and home to 260 Inupiat natives.
I unequivocally oppose opening up ANWR to drilling. Not only will drilling in ANWR threaten the extraordinary natural ecosystems and native people of the area, but in the end, it will do little to reduce America's reliance on foreign oil.
President Bush and some members of Congress have argued that opening up ANWR for oil and gas drilling is necessary to reduce America's reliance on foreign oil.
However, the U.S. Geological Survey predicts that ANWR contains approximately 3.3 billion barrels of oil, which is only six months worth of fuel using current U.S. fuel consumption rates. And most of this oil would not be delivered to consumers for 10 years.
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