Now is the perfect time to adopt a no-holds-barred strategy of opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil production. An agenda aimed at removing the barriers to drilling within ANWR’s coastal plain would contribute to America’s long-term energy security, at minimal cost to the environment.
ANWR possesses what many geologists believe is the biggest untapped oil field remaining in the country. Opening up ANWR for exploratory drilling would send a powerful signal to the world that the United States is serious about maintaining its new status as an energy superpower and the world’s top oil producer.
Although oil imports have fallen sharply in recent years, the main thing U.S. drivers care about, gasoline prices, are affected by OPEC’s decisions as well as other political factors that shape global oil supply and demand. The U.S. still imports about 7.5 million barrels of oil every day. From oil production in Saudi Arabia to drilling in Iraq, not to mention energy decisions in China and political unrest in Venezuela, any one of a number of factors could affect prices at the gas pump. That’s not going to change unless and until the U.S. produces more oil than it consumes.
Currently the U.S. consumes more than 20 million barrels of petroleum products a day, more than any other country. While more efficient automobile engines and, to a lesser extent, electric vehicles have helped moderate domestic demand, U.S. petroleum consumption has actually grown each year since 2012, according to government data.
Given the growing demand for oil, knee-jerk opposition to drilling in ANWR and other untapped areas such as the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Gulf of Mexico is reckless. Those environmental and conservation groups that oppose oil and gas drilling in ANWR ignore the remarkable advances in drilling technology and precautions being taken to avoid harming wildlife that have been implemented since the decades-long debate over ANWR began during the 1970s. Take the innovations in subsurface directional drilling that will enable producers to reach oil and gas deposits miles away without disturbing caribou herds and other wildlife. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, says that subsurface drilling on the North Slope has grown by 4,000 percent since the 1970s, during which time the Porcupine caribou herd has grown more than seven-fold.
Congress recognized that drilling in ANWR could be done safely when it voted last year, with bipartisan support, to open up a small slice of the 19.6-million-acre refuge (no more than 2,000 acres) to surface energy development. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management is gearing up to begin an exhaustive environmental review, a process required before holding an oil and gas leasing sale.
For Alaska and Washington state, where Alaskan oil is refined and shipped elsewhere by tankers, the economic stakes are huge. New jobs and revenue would bring significant benefits to the region’s economy. Nationally, more oil and gas production would strengthen our energy security. But there’s a problem. Opponents can be expected to pull out all the legal stops to prevent drilling in the refuge. Those challenges could block oil and gas production at ANWR for a decade or more.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are 5 to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the coastal plain, and it is nothing short of folly not to exploit those abundant natural resources. If domestic oil and gas production is not freed up, Americans will remain vulnerable to ever-changing global events.
While we can’t stop dramatic changes in world oil prices from happening, we can limit the economic damage when they do happen. ANWR oil production can help insulate America from the inevitable global price shocks.
What can be done to expedite the permitting process and proceed without circumventing safety and environmental concerns? One answer is to balance legitimate concerns against geopolitical and economic factors with Alaskan oil drilling’s excellent safety record. Political posturing about drilling for oil in ANWR is inevitable. But hopefully the significant economic, energy security, and national security benefits of ANWR energy development will prevail over the political and environmental resistance. It’s also a reality that even when the battle over drilling is won and oil production gets underway, a virtually pristine ANWR will endure.
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus.
