Drilling in ANWR is Americas best hope Essay - 2012 Words

The United States imported 9,163,000 barrels of oil per day in 2010. Of that amount 4,885,000 barrels are imported from countries that belong to the OPEC oil cartel. (Petroleum Statistics) The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an organization consisting of twelve countries that have formally agreed to fix prices and dictates sales rules involving the export of oil to non-member countries. In order to lessen our dependence on OPEC oil, the United States should begin drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. The oil reserves in ANWR are estimated to contain more than twice as much oil as the state of Texas. (Energy) Drilling for these resources will help the United States by†¦show more content†¦The red dot represents the area that has been proposed for development in ANWR OPEC has consistently held the U.S. hostage with fixed oil prices and the threat of embargos. Many of the countries that belong to OPEC are not fri endly to the United States, including: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, and Algeria. (Weil) The U.S. has declared many of these countries to be â€Å"state sponsors of terror†; however we still purchase their oil. (Fueling Terror) Increasing the United States’ oil production would give OPEC less of an opportunity to fix prices because demand for their product would fall. The peak oil production of ANWR is estimated to be up to 1.45 million barrels per day; that’s 1.45 million barrels of oil that OPEC would have to find another buyer for. They would either have to lower prices or production as a result of the flooded market. (Hastings) Currently the United States imports 4.885 million barrels of oil from OPEC daily. If we produced 1.45 million more barrels of oil per day we could cut our OPEC imports by more than twenty-five percent. (Petroleum Statistics) At $100 dollars per barrel that would be 145 million dollars that would stay in the United States every day; instead of being sent to countries that sponsor terrorism and reject basic human rights. Oil is fifty percent of Iran’s gross domestic product, fueling their ability to procureShow MoreRelatedThe Threat Of Global Warming1779 Words   |  8 Pages(Consequences of Global Warming). Drilling in ANWR would cause horrifying situations for the wildlife ecosystem and inescapable affects on life in America and around the world, as we know it. In the National Wildlife Refuge Association’s annual report and recommendations to the US Congress, they revealed the astounding fact that, â€Å"The Artic Refuge is the only conservation system unit that protects, in an undisturbed condition, a complete spectrum of the artic ecosystem in North America† (Inkley, Kolton, p. 8)Read More America Does NOT Need to Drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge5388 Words   |  22 PagesAmerica Does NOT Need to Drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Thesis: If the United States is going to choose to conserve energy responsibly, then our governments energies should not be focused on developing oil in the ANWR, but rather on the topics of conservation through higher fuel efficiency standards in vehicles and by developing alternative energy sources. Conservation, fuel efficiency and alternative energy sources are the solutions that will lead us