Essay - The Alaskan Oil Reserves and the Affect on Business and...

The Alaskan oil reserves and the affect on business and c*****sumers

***** issue of the Alaskan oil reserves ***** their potential for the economy ***** the United States has become an extremely contentious issue. The Bush Administration and the corporate sector are of the opinion that the ***** oil reserve offers a potenti*****lly large resource and a possible solution to the energy needs of the country. However, there ***** also contending voices which see the usage of the ***** as ecologically unsound. Ano*****r perspective, which will be explored in this paper, is that the Alaskan *****s will make very little difference to the overall energy problems ***** economy over the next decade. Th***** last view there*****e questions the viability of drilling in the Alaskan state as evidence shows that ***** will not have a pr*****ound *****ffect on businesses and consumers in the near future.

At present ***** debate about the exploitation of ***** Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or ANWR h***** been in process f***** 20 years. (Endless ***** dra*****s political energy) The debate has tended to centre mainly on the exploitation ***** a sensitive ecological area as opposed ***** ***** economic and ***** value *****or the country from a potentially rich oil supply.

To generalize, people who care most about the wildlife and wilderness don't give a hoot ***** the *****; folks fixated on the oil think its value outweighs the ***** and wildland concerns. ***** two sides are every bit as polarized and only a little less p*****sion*****te than those battling over abortion rights"

Endless debate drains political energy)

The National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A), is situated between the foothills of the Brooks Range and the ***** coastline, and ***** about 120 miles from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). (Rosen, Y. 2003.) The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates the area will"... supplement production ***** the Alpine fields, which hold 429 million barrels and have a daily oil output of about 100,000 barrels." (US OKs Commercial Drilling in ***** Oil *****) In terms of geography the oil in the petroleum reserve" lies in reservoirs only ***** 50 feet thick, stretched across an area 300 miles wide and 200 miles from the coast *****l***** to the Brooks *****. In *****, ***** oil is ********** concentrated in reservoirs as ***** as 300 feet." (Big oil numbers for Al*****ka)

***** first glance there seems to be very little reason ***** to make use of these ***** *****s. ***** US Geological Survey estimates that the reserve conta*****s *****tween 5.9 billion and 13.2 billion ***** of oil. (US exp*****s oil exploration in Alaska). Other estimates are that the ***** "... is expected to produce between 5.7 billion and 16 billion barrels ***** oil ***** *****s." (Murkowski L. 2005)

The benef***** of exploit*****g only a relatively small percentage of Alaska offer potentially extensive advantages for ***** economy. The argument ***** to clearly on the side of opening these oil fields "If someone told you that America could stop paying $53 million a day