Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge To drill in the 1002 Area in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be devastating to not only the wildlife that can be found in the area but also to the unique culture of the Natives. Looking from an economic standpoint the decision to drill would not be very beneficial to the United States and would only negatively affect the people who inhabit Alaska. From an environmentalist perspective, drilling in this area would endanger species and reduce the biodiversity of Alaska. The ANWR is a huge mass of 19.6 million acres housing many different types of animals and plant life in northeastern Alaska in the North Slope region. One very important species in this refuge is the caribou. Eighty percent of the calves are born in the 1002 Area (2000 acres) where drilling would take place. The caribou population would most likely decrease because of the drilling, which would have a negative impact on the people since the main source of food for the Inupiat Eskimo Indians is caribou. In addition, bears, wolves, and foxes rely on the caribou herds especially the Porcupine herd. (Oil on Ice)
The impact of drilling would drastically affect the migration patterns of the marine mammals such as whales, and also would impact the populations of fish, birds, and numerous other species because of the noise drilling causes. And, with drilling there is always the risk of an oil spill like that of 1989 which harmed numerous animals. One example of this was the herring; over forty species of birds eat herring and with the spill the herring’s productivity decreased which was devastating since they are a cornerstone species. The ANWR is a unique habitat that we must preserve because of the great variety of animals that it supports such as the Dall Sheep that are native to Alaska. To destroy habitats and species just for some oil is unethical and selfish of governments that want to do so. We must cut down our reliance on oil or humans will only change the planet from a nature-prospering environment to a smog-filled harmful place to live health-wise
The indigenous people of the area would be negatively impacted in a variety of ways. .
These Native tribes live a way of life people in urban cities could not even imagine. They still hunt for their own food as a source of survival, they make their own clothes, and work as a community to make sure everyone is given a fair share of the food. If drilling takes place the whales migrating patterns would be affected which would make it unable to hunt for the marine mammals who play major roles as a food source for whole villages. The noise would affect other food sources like the fish and caribou as well. The people that live here live a beautiful way of life and drilling would only hurt that aspect of their culture. They need this land to survive because it holds the creatures that they use for energy and holds the wildland and wildlife that they can admire. According to Oil on Ice the 1002 Area would have the largest oil find ever to be found in America with 3.2-10 billion barrels of oil (BBO). Even though this sounds like incredible amounts of energy, that is not considering how much of that oil would be full of sand. And, this would only be about one years worth of oil while it may take up to fifteen years just to drill out all the oil. According to Dwight R. Lee in To Drill or Not to Drill he states that the oil would help to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources however, the U.S. does not necessarily get to claim this oil. People that think it would be a good decision to drill may argue that the drilling process would help the economy by bringing jobs and dividends to the people, however, this
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