Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Term Papers

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge term papers report that during his presidential campaign, George W. Bush promised to help ease America’s energy crisis and fulfill American’s ever-growing need for gasoline by opening up Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling.  The plan has been controversial since its announcement, with opponents and supporters facing off for a Washington showdown.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1960 by President Eisenhower, and doubled in size twenty years later, to 19 million acres, under President Carter.  When Congress doubled the size of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, some eight percent of the region, along Alaska’s Arctic Sea coast, was reserved for potential petroleum exploration.  A 1998 U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there could be anywhere from 3 to 16 billion barrels of oil, with some 6 billion barrels “worth pumping out.”  That amount would be enough to satisfy American oil needs for 11 months.  However, only Congressional approval can pave the way for drilling.

Leading the fight in Congress is Senator Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  His 300-page plan is designed to reduce US dependence on imported oil from 56 to 50 percent.  The centerpiece of his plan is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Murkowski’s “National Energy Security Act of 2001” aims, in the Senator’s words, to “protect our energy security.”  Only buy pumping more oil out of Alaska will “lessen U.S dependence on overseas oil, lower gas prices, give the nation more ammunition to solve energy problems and let the U.S. reap the benefits of oil production and sales”.