1 / 29

ANWR

ANWR. ANWR likely has one of the largest untapped oil deposits left in the United States. ANWR is one of the last true ``wilderness’’ areas left in the U.S. Conflict. Trans Alaska Pipeline. 800 miles Built in 1970s. Timeline.

gudrun
Download Presentation

ANWR

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ANWR

  2. ANWR likely has one of the largest untapped oil deposits left in the United States. ANWR is one of the last true ``wilderness’’ areas left in the U.S. Conflict

  3. Trans Alaska Pipeline 800 miles Built in 1970s

  4. Timeline • ANWR was established in 1960, ``for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values. . .’’ • 1971 • President Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The Act gave the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation (KIC) surface rights to 92,160 acres of federal lands adjacent to the village. ANCSA allowed 69,120 of these acres to be selected within the Arctic Range and the remaining lands to be selected outside the Range.

  5. Timeline (cont.) • 1980: President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). The Act expanded the Arctic Range to approximately 18 million acres, renamed it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, designated eight million acres as Wilderness, and designated three rivers as Wild. It also called for wildlife studies and an oil and gas assessment of 1.5 million acres of the Refuge coastal plain. In addition ANILCA allowed KIC to relinquish their selected lands outside the Refuge and instead to select the remainder of their Corporation lands within the Arctic Refuge.

  6. In 1978 and 1979 during debate on (ANILCA): • the House passed legislation to designate the north part of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness • but the Senate wanted to keep the options open for oil development • When ANILCA became law in 1980, most of the Refuge coastal plain was not designated wilderness. Instead, it was decided that only Congress could decide whether to allow oil exploration and drilling in the area. Section 1003 of ANILCA reads "production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is prohibited and no leasing or other development leading to production of oil and gas from the [Refuge] shall be undertaken until authorized by an act of Congress." Because of this 1980 law, the decision about development or protection of this northern part of the Arctic Refuge rests in the hands of the US Congress.

  7. Timeline (cont.) • 1987 • The governments of the United States and Canada signed an international agreement for management and long-term protection of the Porcupine Caribou herd.

  8. Porcupine caribou herd

  9. Calving locations, June-July

  10. How much oil? • Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, in 2003: • ``A constant refrain by those opposed to oil development is that ANWR contains only a “short-term speculative supply of oil”. • ``The Coastal Plain is this nation’s single greatest onshore prospect for future oil. The USGS estimates that it contains a mean expected value of 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil…. • ``Let me put that into context for you. The potential daily production from the 1002 area alone is larger than the current daily onshore oil production of any lower 48 state. In 1968, Prudhoe Bay was estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of oil. Today, its production level is at 13 billion barrels and it is still producing. If we look at the mean calculations of 10.4 billion barrels of oil, ANWR would supply every drop of petroleum for the entire state of Arkansas for 144 years, Missouri for 71 years or South Dakota for 479 years.

  11. 10.4 billion barrels • US uses about 21 million barrels per day • How long would the ANWR oil last, at that rate? • About 500 days (work it out).

  12. Why drill? • Oil for America • How much? Estimate by USGS have been rising • 1998: 4-12 billion barrels • 2002: 6-13 bbl • Less is ``technically recoverable’’ • But, as prices rise, more is ``economically recoverable’’ • Jobs for Alaskans

  13. Why not to drill • Although drilling sought on a small part of ANWR (the ``1002 site’’), the impact on this coastal plain could be great. • Roads, off-road development, drilling pads • Noise • Pollution from equipment, spills • Polar bears den on the coastal plane; many in the 1002 area.

  14. Aboriginal rights • Two groups in the refuge • Inupiat: live mainly on the coastal plain, tend to support development of oil rights • Gwich’in: live mainly in interior and have tended to oppose opening ANWR for drilling • 4 towns, nearly 100,000 acres • If drilling authorized, could become

  15. Gwich’in • Athabascan Indians in NE Alaska and NW Canada • 7,000 or so people • Inland, depend on the caribou

  16. Inupiat • Eskimo • Live on the coast and get their subsistence from the sea

  17. Caribou fences • Gwich’in Indians made spruce-log fences to help corral the caribou, where they could be easily caught.

  18. Ice road

  19. Exploration rig • Notice the marks on the tundra

  20. Coastal Plain • 1002 area • Remains undeveloped • Requires vote of Congress to open • 1.5 million acres

  21. Wilderness area will remain wild 8 million acres

  22. Kaktovik Alaska

  23. Think about: If you had to decide whether to allow drilling in ANWR: • HOW would you decide? • WHAT would be your decision?

More Related