Drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is just the first step

Drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is just the first step

by David Kerr, 30.MAR.05, The Journal Press, King George, Virginia

Everything in Alaska is big. Just how big can be gleaned from a story that's told on Capitol Hill, concerning a heated argument between two Congressmen, one from Alaska, and one from Texas. When the Alaskan Congressman had had enough of his Lone Star colleague, he said with a smile, "?watch it there, if you don't change your mind, we'll cut Alaska in two and then Texas won't be the second largest state, it will be the third."

What can I say? Now that's big. But right now, on Capitol Hill, the argument is around a relatively small chunk of land in this very big state. It's a debate that has been going on for twenty years. The lobbyists for the large oil companies go to Congress, as they do just about every year at this time, and ask for permission to drill on a tract of land in Alaska called the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. This open space, called ANWR for short, was set up in 1960 by President Dwight Eisenhower, to serve as special wilderness preserve. Eisenhower, in the tradition of all of the 20th century Presidents before him, was an advocate for creating and protecting America's wilderness areas.

Though it's likely that most of us will never see this tract of land, it's an awfully long ways away, it nonetheless represents a little bit of America's wilderness history that needs protecting. But, the oil companies want this status changed. They want it for drilling, and now, after years of persistence they seem to be getting close to their objective.

Sadly, what the oil companies are after, and what they want to exploit, is not by any means just a tract of frozen wilderness. Mind you, like everything above the Arctic Circle, it's cold, but it's also teaming with life. There are some 180 different species in the refuge, everything from rare snow geese, to Caribous and Polar Bears. For many of these species, having ANWR is what they need to maintain a viable population. Mess with this pristine bit of wilderness, and the future for many of these species will be in jeopardy.

What's perplexing about the ANWR debate is that when it comes to having any real impact on U.S. oil production, or even helping the oil companies' bottom line, what the refuge could produce is minimal at best. The available reserve under ANWR amounts to just a little less than what the U.S. consumes in six months. Also, it would take years to bring it on line, and most of all, it isn't going to do a thing to bring down the price of a gallon of gas. Indeed, if that's the objective, there are better locations in Alaska, ones not protected, that would probably yield far more oil. But all that logic aside, ANWR remains a make it or break it issue for the oil companies.

But, and forgive the pun, if you "drill" a little deeper, you will find, as is so often the case in politics, that there is more going on than meets the eye. To the oil companies opening this little chunk of Alaska's Northern Slope is more than just the numbers. They see this as an opportunity to open drilling, not only in Alaska, but also in other pristine and protected areas. You might call it the "foot in the door" approach. They have been anxious to get a shot at drilling off the Florida coast as well as other areas all along the Atlantic Coast, going as far north as Maine, areas that would even include our pristine Eastern Shore.

It's a very sophisticated strategy and at the moment the oil companies and their lobbyists are succeeding. The Senate voted to lift the ban on ANWR drilling by 51 to 49, and the House, probably isn't far behind. But that, quite likely, is only the first step in what could be a progressive intrusion on what are becoming our few remaining pristine areas. So, while ANWR may be a long ways away, the oil company strategy, and what they want to do to our pristine and protected areas, has an impact a lot closer to home and probably a lot sooner than we think.

Breaking Alaska News

Leaking pipeline causes oil spill in Alaska

Wed Mar 30,12:18 PM ET

ANCHORAGE, United States (AFP) - Environmental workers in Alaska were racing to clean up 111,300 gallons (423,000 liters) of oily water that spilled from a leaky oil pipeline, officials told AFP.

Some 80 workers were battling to clean up the oily water that covers about two acres (0.8 hectare) in what ranks as one of the largest industrial spills ever seen in the oilfields of northern Alaska's North Slope region.

The leak of oil-contaminated water was discovered Saturday in an oilfield operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc in Kuparuk, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said.

"Around 111,300 gallons (421,000 liters) of a mixture of seawater and produced water, which is a mixture of water and crude oil, was released to both gravel pad and tundra," said the department's Amanda Leffel.

Produced water is water that has been separated from the mixture of crude oil and liquid natural gas that is produced by oil wells. The oil content of the water amounts to about 50 gallons (190 liters), Leffel said.

The leaky pipeline carries produced water from a separating plant back to the Kuparuk production facility where it is injected back into the ground to help maintain pressure in the oil field to allow better oil yields.

"The exact cause of the leak is yet to be determined," the department said in a statement.

"A line excavation and inspection may be required before the cause can be determined. A repair plan for the pipeline is being developed," it added.

The largest water spill in the area involved nearly 758,000 gallons (2.87 million liters) of diluted seawater leaked in March 1997, according to a 2003 report by the National Research Council, making the latest spill the third worst.

The largest spill of crude oil was nearly 39,000 gallons (147,000 liters) in July 1989.