Alaska, Oil, and Energy

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Alaska, Oil, and Energy

• April 2005
• Ned Hettinger

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An Energy Crisis?

• The Bush Administrations Energy Strategy Report
  stated "America in the year 2001 faces the most
  serious energy shortage since the oil embargoes
  of the 1970's.
• Gas prices today (April 05) at 2.50
• American imports over half of its oil
• Drilling for oil in Alaskas Arctic National
  Wildlife Refuge is supposed to be an important
  part of nations response to this crisis

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Questions explored

• Is opening up the Arctic Refuge a step in the
  right direction for U.S. energy policy, for the
  State of Alaska, and for the human and nonhuman
  communities involved?
• What do Alaskans think about drilling and why?
• Can there be environmentally-friendly drilling
  for oil in the Refuge?
• Are there better alternatives?

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Alaska is by far the largest state

• About 1/5 size of entire U.S.
• 375 million acres

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Alaskas Wild Beauty

• Alaskas size, remoteness, mountains, glaciers,
  and wildlife make it our countrys wilderness
  treasure

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Denali
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Portage Glacier
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Crow Pass and Raven Glacier
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History of Alaskan land and oil policy

• Alaska statehood in 1958
• State received right to select 104 million acres
• States rights were contingent on settling
  Natives land claims
• AK Natives claimed virtually all of AKs 375
  million acres as their own

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Oil Discovery Led to Native Settlement

• 1968 oil discovered at Prudhoe Bay
• State wanted to build an 800 mile pipeline from
  Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, bisecting the state
• Native Alaskans land claims made it impossible
  to get the needed rights of way

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Pict of AK
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• Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1970
• Natives got 44 million acres (12) of AK
• Included in ANCSA was a provision to withdraw 80
  million acres for conservation lands

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Battle Over AK Pipeline

• 800 mile pipeline bisecting Americas last great
  wilderness wasnt going to get build easily
• Three env. groups (FOE, EDF, WS) and 5 Native
  Alaska villages sued
• In 1973, Congress resolved the suit by passing AK
  pipeline authorization act
• Senate vote was 49 to 49, Nixons V.P. Spiro
  Agnew casting the tie breaking vote

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Pipeline through AK
range
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Battle Over Alaska Conservation Lands

• How much of Alaska would be set aside in
  conservation areas?
• ANSCA deal was 80 million acres
• Mo Udall (Pres. Carters Sec. of Interior) wanted
  123 million acres with 60 million in wilderness
• AK Senator Stevens wanted 60 million acres with
  12 million wilderness
• Stalemate until Pres. Carter used Antiquities Act
  to set aside 154 million acres in National
  Monuments
• AK went berserk

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1980 Compromise

• Passage of the Alaska National Interests Lands
  Conservation Act
• President Carter signed just as he left office.
• 104 million acres of new conservation land in AK
  with 50 million of that wilderness
• This was a doubling of the total wilderness
  acreage in the U.S.
• Carter has said this was the most important
  conservation legislation of 20th century

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1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

• 11 million gallons
• 53rd biggest spill
• 11,000 miles of coastline oiled (470 direct
  miles SC to DC)
• Devastated Prince William Sounds wildlife and
  human communities
• Destroyed subsistence way of life of local
  people?
• Huge wildlife losses (75 sea otters killed
  loons still not recovered)
• 20 of crude oil still was there 12 years later

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Animals affected by Exxon Valdez Spill
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22,000 carcasses of common murres found
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13,000 marbled murrelets killed
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Valdez Terminal
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Kenai oil tanker in Valdez
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Columbia glacier icebergs
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Bligh Reef
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Pipeline Club

• Will it happen again?

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Tanker tied to tug
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History of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Pres. Eisenhowerin response to a campaign of
  Muries and Supreme Court Justice William O
  Douglas set aside Refuge in 1960
• 19.8 million acres in north east AK, bordering
  Canada (slightly larger SC)
• 17.5 permanently off limits to development
  (wilderness)
• 1.5 million acre coastal plain (1002 area)
  Congress can open for oil/gas development

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Special Place?

• Defenders unique geography makes it a
  wildlife/wildland treasure
• Brooks Range swings to within 40 miles of coast,
  range of arctic ecosystems in a small area
• Interior Sec. Gale Norton has called it a flat
  white nothingness
• A Godforsaken mosquito-infested swamp shrouded
  in frozen darkness ½ year

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says

• "The Arctic Refuge is among the most complete,
  pristine, and undisturbed ecosystems on earth.
  Here coastal lagoons, barrier islands, arctic
  tundra, foothills, mountains, and boreal forests
  provide a combination of habitats, climate, and
  geography unmatched by any other northern
  conservation area

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• "This unique compression of habitats concentrates
  the occurrence of a wide variety of wildlife and
  fish species.... In fact, according to FWS, the
  Arctic Refuge coastal plain contains the greatest
  wildlife diversity of any protected area above
  the Arctic Circle." 

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Species in Refuge

• The area's large mammals also include grizzly
  bears, polar bears, Dall sheep, wolves, moose,
  and a herd of rare muskoxen. 135 species of birds
  are known to use the 1002 area, including large
  flocks of snow geese which feed on the area's
  nutritious vegetation in the fall in preparation
  for their long flight to their wintering grounds
  in the Central Valley of California. Other animal
  species of the area include shorebirds, loons,
  songbirds, and raptors, as well as fish such as
  the Arctic char and Arctic grayling.

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Caribou in Denali
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Arguments against ANWR drilling

• 95 of Alaskas Arctic Coastal plain is already
  open to oil drilling
• Prudhoe Bays poor env. record 400 oil spills a
  year since 1996
• Large amounts of air pollution
• Only one EPA worker on North Slope

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How much oil in ANWR?

• USGS 1998 3.2 to 6.3 billion barrels (7-13
  month U.S. supply)
• Proponents say 10-16 billion barrels (2-3 year
  supply)
• USGS says 5 chance of 16 billion

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Conservation/Efficiency Alternative

• Enhancing energy efficiency in buildings and
  industry could easily save us as much oil

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V.P. Dick Cheney

• Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue,
  but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound,
  comprehensive energy policy.

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Cheney on Conservation (continued)

• To think that we could simply conserve or ration
  our way out of the energy crisis is 1970's era
  thinking.
• Supports energy efficiency only when it does not
  reduce living standards or negatively impact U.S.
  industry.
• Opposes any energy conservation measures based on
  the idea that Americans now live too well or
  that people should do more with less.

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Fuel Economy Standards
(CAFÉ)

• Adopted in 1975, average rose from 14 to 27mpg by
  mid 80s
• No significance increases in CAFÉ since
• Because of the popularity of SUVs (only required
  to average 20.7 mpg vs 27.5 for cars), in 2002
  average U.S. fuel economy fell to its lowest
  level since 1980
• China has proposed more stringent rules
• Raising CAFÉ from 27 to 40 mpg would save a
  billion barrels a year

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Can there be Env. Friendly Drilling in ANWR?

• New drilling technologies cast doubt on the claim
  that ANWR will be as devastated as Prudhoe Bay
• Not clear that the Prudhoe Bay oilfields a
  disaster for wildlife

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New Drilling Technology

• Small well pads with drills branching out 4-5
  miles underground
• 2000 acres of total disturbance out of 1.5
  million acres?
• Drilling mud, contaminated water, spilled oil,
  and discarded chemicals formerly put in waste
  pits can be ground into a slurry and pumped
  underground
• Gravel roads (mined from river beds) spread all
  over fragile tundra can now be built from ice
  that melts in spring
• The maze of oil collecting pipelines can be
  raised for animals to duck under and elevated
  elbows lessen effects of spills

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Oil Pad
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Ice Road
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Caribou under pipeline
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Bear on Pipeline
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New Survey Techniques

• The success rate raised from 1 producing well for
  each 10 exploratory wells to 5 in 10.
• Dynamite no longer used, but vibrating 10-ton
  thumper trucks crisscross tundra in an
  intensive way leaving scars disrupting wildlife
• 2000 acre figure doesnt include this

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Thumper Truck
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Damage from Thumper Truck (in Utah)
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1984 track from seismic exploration
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Same track in 1999 (15 years later)
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Critics Arent Impressed

• Once the work shifts from exploration to
  extraction of oil, the result is always a sprawl
  of pipelines, roads, crew quarters, and fuel
  depots In the end, even with all this
  technology, youve got a massive industrial
  complex.

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Alaskas Oil Addiction

• 78 of state budget is funded by North Slope oil
  revenue
• Alaskans pay no state income or sales taxes
• Each Alaskan receives yearly check from state oil
  revenues Typically it is 1000 to 2,000.
• Oil from Prudhoe Bay is running out (From 19
  billion barrels to 6.4 now) Pipeline flow down
  50.
• No wonder 75 of Alaskans support drilling in the
  arctic.

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Natives perspective

• Inupiat Eskimos who live in ANWR next to 1002
  support it 78 in Kaktovik
• Own oil/gas rights in ANWR which cant be leased
  unless ANWR opened up
• Do not live a subsistence lifestyle but are part
  of the modern cash economy
• One of the USs wealthiest Native groups
• Oppose offshore oil development fearing it would
  harm bowhead whale hunt important to their
  cultural identity

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Inupiat Eskimos of Kaktovic
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Gwichin Indians oppose

• Fear it will harm Porcupine Caribou herd
• Dont live in ANWR but hunt caribou that migrate
  there.
• Live (mostly) a subsistence lifestyle Caribou
  meat 80 of tribal diet
• Ethic of hunters sharing caribou meat essential
  to their culture
• 1002 Sacred birthing ground of caribou and
  ultimately of Gwichin people

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GwichinIndians
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Effects on Porcupine Caribou herd?

• 150,000 animals migrate to coastal plain in
  summer for foraging, protection from predators
  and insect, and to calve
• Canadian estimate Drilling could cause 40
  decline in birthrate
• Central Artic herd near Prudhoe bay Thriving
  (oil industry) or calving near Prudhoe Bay
  nearly ceased(Canadians)
• Porcupine herd has no where to move

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Caribou and Oil Rig

• One study Wildlife adapted well to oil
  drilling.

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Tentative conclusions

• Should not risk cultural genocide
• Even environmentally-friendly oil development
  would ruin the Arctic Refuges pristine character

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Should not risk cultural genocide

• Gwichin spokesperson Faith Gemmil Dont
  sacrifice our way of life for short term economic
  gain.
• Some impact on Porcupine Herd likely but
  probably not enough to undermine the Gwichin
  subsistence hunt and way of life
• But even a tiny chance of causing cultural
  genocide should prevent drilling
• Especially given our the history of our treatment
  of Natives Americans

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Oil development would ruin the Arctic Refuges
pristine nature

• A significant part of the value of this place is
  that it is untouched by modern human industrial
  desire
• The pristine, virginal character of places like
  the Arctic Refuge are necessarily spoiled even by
  environmentally careful petro development
• Temporary McDonalds in Louvre?
• Sexual assault while sedated?

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Current politics of ANWR (April 2005)

• On March 18, Senate voted 51-49 to include
  revenue from drilling in the Refuge in the
  federal budget
• This means that opponents of drilling cannot use
  a filibuster to block oil development in the
  Refuge
• A filibuster can only be broken by 60 votes,
  something drilling proponents dont have
• Last year a federal budget was not passed, and so
  drilling opponents have some hope this will occur
  again
• They also hope that the drilling provision will
  be taken out of the budget in future votes

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Alaska, Oil, and Energy

• Ned Hettinger