Should we drill for oil in A.N.W.R.? Why or why not?

Question

Should we drill for oil in A.N.W.R.? Why or why not?

Answer 1

should we fence off a few acres in thousands of square miles of barren mud flats, or become more dependent on & send billions of dollars to our worst enemys.

its only a matter of time before the oil from the mid east will be completely cut off for varying lengths of time.

what will we do then? it will take 10 years to access new supplys & build new refinerys to process it.

things will change in the next 10 years. wouldnt it be prudent to start the process now?

Answer 2

Absolutely, the same wackos that said the Alaskan pipeline would destroy the caribou are now saying a postage stamp sized area in Anwar would destroy the wildlife. We have the technology to drill safely and it is a shame we are sending dollars to our worst enemies in the mideast instead of drilling for oil in our own backyard. The wackos want the gas prices to go as high as possible to inhibit burning gasoline, they could care less about the hardships it causes for our poorer citizens who can least afford the high gas prices.

Answer 3

yes nobody is going to lower gas prices for us, over in the UK ,Europe gas has always been 3 or 4 dollars more per gallon,and look at the cars they drive. the libs don't want to lower the prices so the Americans will buy smaller cars for the environment, and then keep the prices high so eventually we will be driving air powered cars, and they will find a way to tax that!

Answer 4

With out any doubt - Yes!

Modern technology allows us to drill with minimum impact to the environment.  

The size of the land set aside for drilling is equal to two Wal-Mart parking lots in an area the size of West Virginia.  

More oil reduces the amount we send out of the country and the extra supply will be a welcomed relief for the poor.

Answer 5

thats kind of like asking if we should put a bandaid on a major artery that has been cut with a chain saw.  Sure, we could start drilling in anwr, and then expand to drill everywhere else including your back yard, and it still wont make a difference.  Gas is just one factor, we've had it too easy for too long, and its time to pay the piper

Answer 6

NO NO NO NO! Just because humans are selfish animals (yes, we are STILL animals), we shouldn't destroy the environment to make life easier for us and so that everyone becomes fat. or even more so.

Answer 7

No.

ANWR is an incredibly special place. And, opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil development would only slightly reduce America’s dependence on imports and would lower oil prices by less than 50 cents a barrel.

Given US's dependence upon oil and its rate of consumption,  the oil reserves within ANWR would last a short period.  Drilling would be like throwing a cup of tea water to put out a fire - in terms of consumption.

Meanwhile, that is a migration area for various animals. These animal populations would be very negatively affected, or even decimated.

Mardy Murie says it best. "Beauty is a resource in and of itself.  Alaska must be allowed to be Alaska. That is her greatest economy. I hope the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by. Or so poor, she cannot afford to keep them."

Answer 8

No.  people say they might be able to drill it without harming the wildlife, but it is easily possible that things will go wrong, and it will cause severe destruction in that area.  

And, honestly, it's really not worth the risk.  Even if we drilled all the oil there, if the US continues using oil at the rate we do now (and we're only increasing our rates), it would only last us ~3 years.  

Guess how long it would last the world? Maybe 6 months.

So for the people saying it will do amazing things for our economy -I say a better idea would be using less oil and finding alterative fuel sources instead of going through all this ridiculous stuff just for a few years worth of oil.

Answer 9

No, we shouldn't!  Even if we gave permission to drill today, we wouldn't see a drop of that oil for at least 10 years.  It takes a long time to get all the rigs and other equipment all set up, plus you'd have to ship everything out there.  ANWR is on the Northern edge of Alaska, so getting there wouldn't be easy.  Once we do start getting oil from there, the increase in supply would be about enough to take the price of gas down 20 cents maybe.  

Even though technology has gotten much better, that still doesn't mean that a spill couldn't occur.  And if/when a spill does occur, it most likely will never be cleaned up!  Don't believe me, just look at Prince William Sound when an oil tanker from Exxon ran aground.  That happened in 1989, and Exxon is still fighting in courts to have to pay for the cleanup!!!  Now you want to open up more wilderness areas for these crooks to profit off of???!!!

A much more effective way to reduce gas prices is to start mandating much higher MPG requirements on new cars sold today.  This would have a much faster impact on the price of gas rather than trying to drill our way out of this mess.

Answer 10

Yes.  Its ours, why should we be forced to buy it form overseas.

there is no reason it can not be done saftly and cleanly.

Answer 11

We are talking about drilling in a small area of a huge national park. The fact that most of the oil we buy comes from countries that hate us gives us a good reason to develop our own oil stocks. People love to claim that the current war is a war for oil. Think about this, if we use all the oil in other countries and have these huge reserves in America where do you think the real war for oil will take place.

Answer 12

NO! no more destruction of nature for our selfish gains. The answer lies in alternative fuels. We need to start searching for new ways of energy not stay reliant on oil! Bush and his billions of dollars a week war have waisted 8 years of potential energy discoveries.

Answer 13

No, the oil there will only last us 4-6 months. Why destroy the last wild frontier in America for such a minuscule amount of oil.  It will not change anything.