Alaska Natural Wildlife Reserve

ANWR is an area rich in fauna, flora, and commercial oil potential. Shortages of gasoline and natural gas and resulting increased prices have renewed the ANWR debate for the first time in 5 years; however, its development has been debated for over 40 years. Current law forbids energy leasing in the refuge, but the recent spike in oil and gasoline prices has led to renewed interest in various responses to high oil prices, including additional U.S. drilling. President Bush has included drilling in the refuge as a major feature of his proposed energy plan. Few locations stir as much industry interest as the northern portion of ANWR.

Sense Making

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established to preserve unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values; to conserve caribou herds, polar bears, grizzly bears, muskox, dall sheep, wolves, wolverines, snow geese, peregrine falcons, other migratory birds, dolly varden, and grayling. The mission was to fulfill international treaty obligations, to provide opportunities for continues subsistence uses, and to ensure necessary water quality and quantity. However, a 1998 United States Geological Survey study indicated at least 4.3 billion (95% probability) and possibly as much as 11.8 billion (5% probability) barrels of technically recoverable oil exists in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 area, with a mean value of 7.7 billion barrel.

Decision Making

The Bush administration is just weeks away from a decision that most likely will designate polar bears as a threatened species but said today that it won't budge on issuing oil and gas leases in their shrinking Alaska habitat. A House committee on global warming called on the U.S. Interior Department to hold off auctioning oil and gas leases in northwest Alaska's Chukchi Sea until it makes a decision about whether to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service postponed the decision last week for at least another 30 days, and it is not expected to be issued before the Feb. 6 oil and gas lease sale by the Minerals Management Service. The agency estimates that the Chukchi Sea holds 15 billion barrels of oil and as much as 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.


Discussion/Response

In discussing ANWR, also consider the long term credibility of eocologists and the Ecological Society. To maintain and enhance that credibility, the discussion should be based on hard science and empirical data. It should include both positive and negative impacts on as many species as possible. The Society's statement on ANWR is so full of 'possibly' and 'potential' in one form or another and so devoid of hard science that it risks falling into the category of smoke and mirrors.