Science-Physics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Science-Physics - Essay Example Oil drilling in the ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Reserve) is such an issue that has elicited heated debate on whether drilling of oil in this reserve should be allowed or not. Proponents of drilling have argued that drilling the oil in the reserve will secure for the US a local energy reserve, effectively reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil. This they argue will reduce America’s vulnerability to sabotage by enemy states by withholding oil from her. Moreover, they say that the oil drilling will only take a small part of the 19.8 million square acres of land which was established as a reserve in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (National Research Council, 2003). Furthermore, they say that there would be a lot of jobs created should the drilling process begin. Opponents of this venture argue that the destruction that will be caused by a drilling station will be devastating for the reserve; affecting both the plants and animals in the area immediately surrounding the well as well as causing other environmental hazards such as oil spillage and contributing to global warming, which would directly or indirectly destroy the habitat. In addition, they argue that the amount of oil that would be got has not been verified and it might prove to be so small in the long run. They also reiterate the fact that there are many other oil well like in Texas which have not been drilled but are just leased to other countries. They say these idle lands should be exploited first before destroying new lands. But by far their most convincing rebuff of drilling oil is in response to the fact that the area to be used for drilling will be a small section of the reserve accounting for less than 2% of the total reserve. They cite an example of the nearby Prudhoe Bay oil fields. The fields which were initially assumed would only occupy about 2100 acres of land