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Guest Commentary March 23, 2002
ANWR — Protecting a Natural Resource
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison
A tiny sliver of land in the northeast corner of Alaska could hold the key to America's energy independence.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, has been at the center of the energy debate in Washington, D.C., and around the country. The entire refuge is 19.5 million acres, roughly the size of South Carolina. But the area we need to develop is only 2,000 acres — smaller than many Texas ranches. Underneath its soil is a vast pool of oil that could help us reduce our reliance on other countries, particularly those in the Middle East.
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America's dependence on foreign oil has increased from 30 percent in the 1970s to nearly 60 percent today. In September 2001, the same month that the terrorists attacked the United States, we imported more than 1.2 million barrels of oil a day from Iraq. Last year we paid Iraq a record $4 billion indirectly for its oil! We must break this reliance — we are at war, and we face further terrorist threats. The President has called on Congress to open up ANWR and protect the United States from rogue nations whose actions could severely disrupt the flow of oil into our country.
If we don't explore in the ANWR, we will continue to come up short in meeting our nation's energy needs. We will have to continue importing oil from countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and perhaps across the Bering Strait from Alaska in Russia.
If we don't open up the ANWR, exploration in Russia will go forward, but without the strict environmental regulations and regard for the natural habitat that American policy would ensure. Such Russian exploration would open the Alaskan channel to a fleet of foreign oil tankers, putting the area at risk for increased oil spills and other environmental hazards. This is one reason we must manage exploration in the ANWR — the most responsible environmental protection will come from the United States.
Oil fuels the United States. It provides about 40 percent of the energy Americans consume and 97 percent of our transportation fuel. The oil industry employs nearly 1.4 million of our citizens and is a critical sector of our national economy.
Exploration in the ANWR has the potential to yield 16 billion barrels or more of oil, almost doubling our current national reserves. Geologists estimate that the ANWR holds more oil than in all of Texas. Each barrel we produce within our own borders is one less barrel we have to import from nations like Iraq.
Environmental groups have distorted the public's perception of the effects that exploration would have on the Alaskan habitat.
Prudhoe Bay, an area just west of the ANWR, is one of the largest oil fields in the world. It opened for exploration more than 25 years ago and has since produced 13 billion barrels of oil. Walter Hickel, former governor of Alaska and former Secretary of the Interior, said that Prudhoe Bay was the "finest environmental development" he'd ever seen.
Careful regulation and oversight of the surrounding habitat have preserved Prudhoe Bay's natural beauty and environment. In fact, the Central Arctic herd of caribou, native to the area, has actually tripled in population since the Alaskan Pipeline opened in the 1970s.
More than 70 percent of Alaskans favor exploration and production in the ANWR, because they know that American policy will protect their land and create opportunity for their citizens. The Teamsters Union strongly supports exploration of the Refuge because 25,000 of the estimated 735,000 new jobs it would create nationwide, would be Teamster jobs. If the ANWR is not developed, those jobs will go to foreign countries.
A country that depends on foreign nations for energy is not completely free. We must take advantage of our own natural resources. Only then will we be able to control our own economy, provide strict environmental protection and ensure our national security.
Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, is a U.S. Senator from Texas. The above commentary has been adapted from a weekly column Sen. Hutchison issues, March 20, 2002. To contact her, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
