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Drilling for Security
Don’t look now, but the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may be
the next victim of the war on terrorism.
So far, the war on terrorism has been used as an excuse for everything
from expanding the power of the executive branch, to abridging the bill
of rights, to giving massive retroactive tax cuts to big corporations.
Now George W. Bush and his oil-friendly cronies are trying to convince
Congress, and the American people, that our national security requires
opening up the most pristine and remote of the nation’s wild lands
to commercial exploitation.
The fact is, according to estimates by the US Geological Survey, the
110-mile strip of Arctic coastal plain would yield only about six months
worth of oil for the United States under the most likely scenario. And
it would take 10 years to bring this oil to market.
To get it, oil companies would have to build a network of drilling platforms,
pipelines and support structures that would destroy crucial habitats
for many indigenous beings. like the polar bars, who dig their maternity
dens in the coastal snowdrifts; the porcupine caribou, which journey
up to 400 miles from Canada every year to give birth on the Arctic coastal
plain; and the Gwich’in Indians, one of the world’s few remaining
subsistence cultures, who depend on the caribou for food.
Oil companies say they could drill in the refuge safely. But their record
so far is appalling. On average, there’s more than one spill a
day of crude oil, refined oil products or hazardous substances on Alaska’s
North Slope at Prudhoe Bay, the source of 20 percent of the nation’s
domestic oil supply. In 1999 alone, these spills released 45,000 gallons
of crude oil, diesel fuel, propane and ethylene glycol, among other
toxic substances. Oil is also released through leaks in the Trans-Alaska
pipeline system.
There are hundreds of permit violations at Prudhoe Bay. In 1998 and
1999 alone, BP Amoco was fined nearly $6 million for spills in Alaska.
There were thousands of spills during pipeline construction there.
North Slope oil and gas operations also generate enormous amounts of
waste, all of it exempt from hazardous-waste regulations because of
a loophole in the law. As a result, millions of gallons of oily liquids
and sludge, toxic brine and other wastes are dumped into open pits,
frozen into the permafrost or simply discharged into the environment.
The oil operations also annually spew more than 56,000 tons of nitrogen
oxides, a source of acid rain. North Slope oil facilities release 24,000
tons of the greenhouse gas methane every year, too.
Bush’s energy bill, including a provision opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge for drilling, has already passed the House. In the Senate,
comprehensive energy legislation recently offered by majority leader
Tom Daschle (D-SD) would reduce US dependence on oil imports, move our
country toward conservation and renewable sources like wind and solar
power, and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive
public lands.
Pro-drilling forces are trying to add an amendment to this bill that
would open the refuge for drilling. A vote could come this month.
For more information, to contact your senator, or to find out how your
representative voted on the House bill, go to www.defenders.org/wildlife/arctic/overview.html.
–Todd Paul (Source: Defenders of Wildlife)
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