Alaska Governor Murkowski on drilling in the ANWR

Frank H. Murkowski, the Governor of the State of Alaska, has penned an opinion piece for the Seattle Times. In it, he attempts to explain why drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, which has recently been approved by Congress, is a good idea and won't adversely affect the environment. I've included some excerpts with commentary below. First, he provides us with an interesting number:

Washington's five oil refineries process billions of dollars of Alaska crude, supplying consumers throughout the Northwest with energy. Washington alone consumes 18 million gallons of petroleum daily. Apparently, not everyone is traveling to their destinations on bicycles. If Alaska's crude oil were not available, Washington state would be getting its oil supply from Middle Eastern nations in foreign ships with foreign crews, built in foreign shipyards.

Most of Washington State's power comes from hydroelectric dams but electricity doesn't power cars (yet), nor the trucks, trains, and ships which move goods from one place to another and form part of the backbone of the nation's economy.

Alaska's environmental standards are the highest in the world, and yet Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray — opponents of ANWR drilling — have repeatedly declined my invitations to visit ANWR and see firsthand this area of national importance.

All I can say about this is that I am totally not surprised.

Advances in directional drilling make the footprint in ANWR extremely small. Use of only 2,000 acres for ANWR development is authorized in the House energy bill, yet ANWR is 19 million acres, about the size of Colorado.

Hmmm... Let's do some math here. Two thousand out of 19 million is 1.0526315789473684210526315789474e-4 according to my calculator. This equates to roughly 0.01 percent. That's right, a hundredth of a hundredth. We're talking a virtually neglible amount of area here. Now, admittedly, this is not the entire portion of the ANWR that Congress in 1980 said could be developed for oil exploration if Congress authorizes it. That area is the coastal plain which is about 1.5 million acres. Yet even that is only about 8 percent of the total area of the ANWR.

Governor Murkowski goes on to provide another interesting number:

Federal biologists began surveying the Central Arctic caribou herd in 1978, after the Alaska pipeline began operation. Since then, the herd has grown from 5,000 to over 32,000 animals. Alaska has proven it can be responsible; wildlife in ANWR will continue to coexist with cautious oil and gas exploration.

Life is adaptable. Yes, it has limits but as long as we're cognizant of those limits and work to stay well within them, there's no reason why development of this area will cause any sort of ecological disaster.

Yet more interesting numbers:

Critics falsely claim ANWR will only produce six months of oil. This incorrectly assumes ANWR would be the only oil field in operation in the world. In fact, ANWR oil will make significant contributions to the nation's energy supply for decades, replacing what we import from Saudi Arabia for the next 20 years. To bring this statistic home, ANWR alone would supply the state of Washington with all of its oil needs for 15 years.

Some estimates use the most pessimistic production figures by counting only 3.5 billion barrels of oil. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates between 12 billion and 32 billion barrels exist in the ANWR "1002 area," of which between 6 billion and 16 billion barrels are recoverable using current technology.

Just to be clear, the "1002 area" he's talking about is the entire 1.5 million acre coastal plain. The small 2000 acre area currently being opened won't produce all that oil.

Some say ANWR will take at least seven years to begin production. That delay is because of the comprehensive environmental-impact study necessary to ensure that the environment is protected.

Yep, we're just going to rush in and rape the environment. And if you believe that one, well you know the punchline.

Like all Americans, I support research and technological development in alternative energies so that in the future we can reduce our energy dependence. But we must be realistic — right now the world moves on oil and that will be the case for years to come. Until the arrival of new energy technology, oil from ANWR can significantly help in easing our dependence on foreign imports.

Producing oil in Alaska means high-paying careers for American workers, not foreigners. Companies friendly to our country will profit, rather than governments that would prefer our demise.

While hybrid vehicles, alternative technologies such as fuel cells, and alternative fuels like biodiesel, ethanol, and hydrogen will help, they're not going to displace oil as the king of energy any time soon. They will take years, probably decades, to become pervasive. In the short term at least we need to reduce our dependency on foreign oil while these new technologies are being developed. The plan to extract oil from a portion of the ANWR balances conservation with responsible use.