Joe M. - ANWR "A place of hardship but also a place of harsh beauty"

"I strongly reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because it would irreversibly damage a protected national wildlife refuge without creating sufficient oil supplies to meaningfully affect the global market price or have a discernible impact on US energy
security." - President Barack Obama


This week was definitely interesting. ANWR or Artic National Wildlife Refuge is defiantly an important topic to talk about. ANWR lies in the top northeast corner of Alaska. The entire refuge lies north of the Arctic Circle and 1,300 miles south of the North Pole.

ANWR is inhabited by 45 different species of land and marine mammals, ranging from the bowhead whale to the polar, grizzly, and black bear family. Thirty-six species of fish occur in Arctic Refuge waters, and 180 species of birds have been observed on the refuge. The Arctic Refuge also contains remote, complete, and undisturbed lands across five different ecological regions: lagoons, beaches and saltmarshes of coastal marine areas; coastal plain tundra; alpine tundra of the Brooks Range; the forest-tundra transition south of the mountains; and tall spruce, birch, and aspen of the boreal forest.

The conflict between high oil potential and nearly pristine nature creates a dilemma: should Congress open the area for oil and gas development or should the area's ecosystem be given permanent protection from development? What factors should determine whether to open the area? If the area is opened, how can damages be avoided, minimized, or mitigated? To what extent should Congress legislate special management of the area (if it is developed) and to what extent should federal agencies be allowed to manage the area under existing law?

So, it's all about oil, how much do we need? Is it worth killing off beautiful land and animals?There are over 100 oil spills in Alaska per year. So is drilling in the Arctic a solution? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!