America's energy future depends on Alaskan oil
- Resource Development Council for Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, AK (United States)
Oil reserves two miles beneath the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northern Alaska could stimulate the economy, reduce US petroleum imports, create jobs, and improve the US trade balance, insist Becky Gay and Carl Portman of the non-profit Resource Development Council for Alaska, Inc. Efforts to tap these oil reserves would be confined to the coastal plain. The rest of the refuge would remain unaffected. US Department of the Interior geologists estimate that the coastal plain could produce as much as 1 million barrels of crude oil per day for at least 25 years. That level of production would represent 12 percent of current domestic production. [open quotes]It also could increase the gross national product more than $50 billion by 2005 and save the United States more than $14 billion annually in imports,[close quotes] Gay and Portman write. And, they say, these rewards would come at only a modest price in terms of loss of wilderness. [open quotes]While it is impossible to develop without environmental impact, environmental protection and oil development in the arctic are not mutually exclusive,[close quotes] the authors contend. They claim that advances in drilling, construction, and operating practices have reduced the environmental impact associated with oil development in Alaska. Those opposed to oil exploration in ANWR contend that energy conservation measures such as higher gasoline mileage for automobiles may offset the need for additional Alaskan oil. The authors insist, however, that even [open quotes]the most sincere efforts by consumers to conserve would still leave a sizable gap between the energy America produces and the energy it consumes.[close quotes]
- OSTI ID:
- 7054932
- Journal Information:
- Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy; (United States), Vol. 9:4; ISSN 0887-8218
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ALASKA
OIL FIELDS
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
USA
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
020700* - Petroleum- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology