Alaska National Wildlife Refuge

Many people do not know what the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge is, and how its many benefits that it brings to us all. The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge was original known as The Arctic National Life Range which was established in 1960 thanks to an article in the Sierra Bulletin Club in 1953. It wasn't until 1980 it was changed to the Alaska Nation Wildlife Refuge, it in the Northeast corner of Alaska, it lies north of the Arctic circle and 1,300 miles south of the North pole. It is a 19.2-million acre that originally just was started to support a variety of plant and animal life of any Park or Refuge in the circumpolar arctic. Many people saw the area important for ecological and evolutionary processes, and a place where indigenous life-forms could grow. But in 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act renamed "Range" to "Refuge," and increased the to area of the Refuge and assigned a big part for Wilderness, let Congress have a portion of the coastal plain for oil and gas development, and designated three Wild Rivers.(Richard Voss.2006.Wildlife and Habitat. Retrieved 03/25/06 from http://www.fws.gov/)

There are many arguments for and against drilling oil in the ANWR. Some arguments for drilling oil in the ANWR.One it has a positive impact

On the economy, for example between 1977 and 2004 field development and production earned over 50 billion dollars to the nation's economy as a whole. Two many jobs are created the estimated jobs to be created are between 250,000 to 735,000 just if the coastal plain is developed. Three, the cost is a lot cheaper than imported oil in 2004 over 150 billion dollars, and 170 bullion dollars just on petroleum products which averages out to 19.9 million dollars an hour. Fourth it decreased the 'ecological footprint' of the arctic oil development as a whole, by 64%. Last but not least another reason why drilling oil in the ANWR will be beneficial is that it has no negative impact on animals, it already has grown from 3,000 animals to 32,000. (arcticpower.2005.Top 10 reasons to support development in ANWR. Retrieved 03/25/06 from http://www.anwr.org/topten.htm/) There are also many arguments against drilling oil in the ANWR for example if we start drilling again, it will take off the focus on what the real problem which is our overuse of oil. It will also disrupt the animals who are living and there way of life. It could just be a waste of time and or money, because they don't know where oil actual is they can drill for many years and waste lots of money in