To Drill or Not to Drill
In the United States these days, oil is something that is very treasured. Throughout the past decade there has been much debate over the issue of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for exploration, and ultimately oil drilling. ANWR is a 19 million acre area of land in the Northeast corner of Alaska. It was set aside by the government in 1960 for the wildlife of Alaska and is one of the most pristine areas in the world. But ANWR also holds probably the biggest oil reserve in North America. The debate has been whether or not to open it up for drilling. The government seems to be split on this issue half and half. In the past few years, President Bush has been pushing to drill for oil in that area, but he needs both the House of Representatives and the Senate to approval. Regardless of the claims made by those who are opposed to the idea, drilling for oil in ANWR is more logical for many reasons, such as, very minimal affects on the wilderness, less reliance on foreign oil, and many new jobs will be created.
Those opposed say that drilling for oil in ANWR won't decrease our reliance on imported oil. But that really isn't true. ANWR may contain enough oil to replace all oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It doesn't make sense for America to ignore the oil reserves in its borders and rely on oil-producing countries, which allies to terrorist groups. If we have a lot of oil here in our own country, why don't we use it? Those opposed to oil drilling in ANWR also say that with the new fuel efficient cars being made, we don't need to drill in this region. But what is misunderstood is that the development of these cars will take many more years. The oil in ANWR will help provide the United States with oil until those alternative sources are created. If we need the oil now, we should look inside our own borders first to get it.
Those opposed to the idea of drilling oil...