 By Erica Hoff November 26, 2005
More than 90 percent of the coastal lands west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge already been opened to drilling and many documented negative effects on wildlife and habitat. Now the US federal government and State of Alaska want to go ahead and drill the last 10 percent there is? Leave it alone and save it for the future. Senator Lisa Murkowski wishes to open up what is left of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and production instead of protecting the ANWR. Politicians just want to give the land away and that will devastate wildlife. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge called the "American Serengeti" is home to caribou, polar bears, arctic foxes, wolverines, grizzly bears, and snow geese. All of these animals depend on this ecosystem for their survival. If oil drilling takes place, the wildlife home would be destroyed and the animals would die off. The Glitch in is the people of the caribou , what would this tribe do if the caribou were killed off? Also, the people at stake if drilling happens in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are 5,000-7,000 Glitch in, who depend on the caribou for their cultural, spiritual, social and economic vitality of their communities. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could be disastrous for wildlife. The biologists are also concerned about the long-term environmental effects of the millions of gallons of waste from oil and gas operations disposed of in open pits, injected into the subsurface, frozen into the permafrost and discharged directly into the air and water and erosion problems to tundra. According to some scientists, the world's oil supply is going to be depleted around 2040 and other scientists will argue that the oil supply will be depleted around 2020. They are saying we have at the most of four generations of fossil fuels left in the world, which includes the coal reserves in North America. Alaska would roughly supply all U.S. oil needs for about eleven months. The world needs to start using electric generation using nuclear and hydroelectric sources and use renewable sources like solar powered and alternate-fueled vehicles. It would be pitiful to sacrifice one of the most beautiful places a person can see just for a few more years of oil. The solution is not to drill or open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for exploration and drilling. No drilling in the ANWR. Erica Hoff and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.
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