The drilling of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been a controversial topic to discuss over the last couple of years and even today discussion takes place in re-opening the consideration for using the grand piece of land as an area to drill for oil. The reason for the extreme controversy is that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an extensive landscape that acts as a home and barrier to several diverse species. Though this landscape holds such amazing wildlife, politicians and oil companies disregard this and continue to push for the control of the land in order to open drilling for the oil that is thought to be reserved under the land. Oil drilling should not be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because it would inevitably harm the extensive wildlife, it distracts the world from the idea that oil is not a renewable resource, and heavily pollutes the environment.
Oil drilling may seem great economically, but the price to pay is bigger than we think. With oil drilling comes large impacts on animal habitat and it always comes down towards affecting us because as humans we do rely on animals to play a role in the proper function for our ecosystem. Oil operations include processes of penetrating mud-like fluids and unfortunately these fluids cannot always be contained and are spilled around the area (“Seven Ways Drilling is Bad”). The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is composed of several routes of fresh water streams and supplies and drilling would disrupt these routes and it won’t be available for fish and wildlife to use. Nonetheless, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains a Coastal Plain that polar bears use to den onshore, but since these vulnerable mammals are sensitive to human disturbances any activity of oil drilling will result in polar bears abandoning their cubs and negatively affect their reproductive rates (Keatinge). Not only does oil drilling essentially push for the shrinkage in the polar bear population, it potentially harms the indigenous people that live near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by threatening the migration of Caribou, also known as reindeer, in the region. The indigenous Gwich’in people have depended on the extensive reproduction of the Caribou for their subsistence economy and with the interference of oil drilling, disruption will unavoidably take place and force herds to abandon their important grounds (Geiling). Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would broadly affect the wildlife and clearly the insignificant benefits derived from drilling would not outweigh the consequences.
The idea of oil drilling is usually followed with the economic advantage the United States will have against foreign suppliers, but we tend to forget that this advantage is just as limited as oil. Oil is a nonrenewable resource and as time progresses we will eventually run out of this finite resource. Although only time can tell when this day will come, we should be focusing in utilizing our current means of operation in developing ways in which we do not have to rely on nonrenewable resources. If several politicians and oil companies continue to focus on the present rather than look for ways to secure our future, than nothing but turmoil awaits us. In fact, when you think of it closely, supporting the oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a way distracts us from realizing that we live in a world where overconsumption is an issue (Lombardo). Dr. Birol, a chief economist at an energy agency, once stated “One day we will run out of oil, it is not today or tomorrow, but one day we will run out of oil and we have to leave oil before oil leaves us, and we have to prepare ourselves for that day.” Some are aware of that mistakes that are taken place, but closemindedness still plagues our societies from witnessing on what we are setting up for ourselves in the future. In other words, supporting oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge does not benefit the world in the long run and if it is not a positive decision all around, then it should not be considered at all.
Regardless of the precautions oil industries take to cause minimal damage to the environment, serious damage still takes place. When it comes to oil drilling a lot of construction activities take place and using heavy equipment like trucks and bulldozers strip the land, cause erosion, and fragment ground surface to a point where these sites cannot be reversed back to their original state. The extensive process of oil drilling involves numerous types of machinery and nearby open areas can contain petroleum hydrocarbons and wastewater that can potentially interfere with our water. Although we are technologically advanced, explosions of pipelines and wells still occur and contaminates can cause problems with aquifers that hold drinking water. Moreover, drilling does play a large role in climate change do the emissions it creates. Nearly one-fourth of gas emissions, including methane, are traced back to drillings and extractions on federal landscapes. Methane is 84 times more harmful to our atmosphere than carbon dioxide, causing it to trap heat more successfully and escalating global warming (“Seven Ways Drilling is Bad”). In a way, widespread oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge damages not only the physical landscape where the oil drilling takes place, but it contributes to the reduction of Earth’s wholesome environmental state overall.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a reserve that homes countless species and animals, but interest is focused on what rests beneath the ground surface of the refuge rather than its diverse wildlife. Although oil companies and politicians seek the use of the Northern Alaskan lands to drill oil located under the region, supporters of this decision are unaware of the potential consequences associated with this course of action. Oil drilling in these sensitive lands will undoubtedly harm the steady wildlife species that inhabit the region, extensive pollution will take place and further deepen our current environmental disaster, and divert our attention on the real problem with relying on nonrenewable resources as our primary means for functioning. In all, there are no upsides from drilling oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that could offset the downsides that are associated with this unreasonable proposal.