Arctic oil could replace all U.S. imports from middle east

April 7, 2003

Free Market Foundation

The U.S. Congress may still open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling this year, contrary to reports of its demise, says H. Sterling Burnett, senior fellow with the National Centre for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

The Senate vote earlier this week was just one of many steps for ANWR passage this year. According to Burnett, opening ANWR for drilling remains important for the following reasons:

U.S. dependence on foreign oil is at an all-time high, with as much as a quarter of its imports coming from the Middle East.

According to the best estimates, ANWR has enough oil to replace all of the oil imported by the USA from Iraq for more than 50 years and from Saudi Arabia for as much as 20 years.

Drilling in ANWR can be accomplished with a minimum of environmental impact, using less than 1 percent of the refuge 2,000 out of 19 million acres.

Private environmental organisations have found drilling and environmental protection are compatible on their own lands.

ANWR is also important to keep and maintain the usefulness of the trans-Alaskan oil pipeline. To keep the remaining but dwindling stocks of oil in Prudhoe Bay flowing, the pipeline must keep the pressure up, which takes a sufficient amount of oil.

“If ANWR had been opened for drilling back in 1990 when proposed by the first President Bush, the U.S. would be less dependent on foreign oil today. And then maybe the false attacks that they are at war for oil would hold even less weight,” said Burnett.

Source: H. Sterling Burnett, ANWR Drilling Still Alive, Contrary To Reports, Press Release, March 20, 2003, National Centre for Policy Analysis.USA.

For text http://www.ncpa.org/prs/rel/2003/nr03mar20b.html
For more on Energy and the Environment http://www.ncpa.org/iss/ene/

FMF Policy Bulletin\25 March 2003