Drill in Alaska?

Author's Note: I am writing this piece to tell people what I think they should do about drilling in Alaska. This piece is for Social Studies class.

"The result is a landscape defaced by mountains of sewage sludge, scrap metal, garbage and more than 60 contaminated waste sites." (1) Many people think we shouldn’t drill for oil in Alaska because there are a lot of disadvantages but on the other hand there are multiple advantages of drilling for oil in Alaska. Having pollution would be a terrible thing to have in Alaska yet there are many good things that would result in drilling for oil in Alaska.

Having pollution is a negative thing about drilling in Alaska. Pollution could and probably would cause more global warming. If more global warming occurs, more animals will die because they cant stand the heat. Another disadvantage of drilling for oil in Alaska is that it is in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a wildlife refuge, they want wildlife to roam around and have as much space as possible. If they dug there they wouldn’t be able to have animals walk near the hole because they might fall in so it would take away some space for the animals. Another harm of doing this procedure is that some animals could die when the people are cutting down the forest to drill one hole. Lastly, it is bad to drill for oil in Alaska because only 8% of the land is being proposed to drill on; therefore it wouldn't make that much oil and it wouldn’t last us that long before we need to drill for more oil. There are many negatives that come out of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

While there are many bad things that could occur when digging in Alaska for oil, there are numerous advantages of doing it. One of the reasons is our economy. Wharton Economic Forecasting group stated that more than 735,000 jobs would be created in this project, yet later estimates were closer to 60,000. Since only 8% of the land will be touched because it will be dug on, 92% of won't be touched so the forest will stay almost all the same. The proceeds from drilling could lower the price of oil, and possibly leading to another economic boom. Lastly, most people haven't thought of this that much but it could affect our country dramatically in years to come. Every dollar we spend on oil from the Middle East, Russia, and Venezuela only strengthens the communists and terrorists trying to harm the United States. This could result in another issue like 9-11. There are plenty of high quality things about drilling for oil in Alaska.

Since there are many advantages of drilling for oil in Alaska, many people want it to happen. One of those people is me. I have many reasons why I think this and they could persuade you to want them to drill too. In a long process kids might not be able to play sports like us because of the rising costs of oil. I wouldn’t want this to happen because our kids won't get to experience the things about sports that we do. Since it would open more jobs, I know some people that don’t have jobs and they could possibly get one. It would also make the economy a little bit better now and for in the future when we are adults. I want them to drill for oil in Alaska.

There are many reasons why we should and shouldn’t dig for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We will most likely dig for oil because it will help out our economy and we should do anything to make our economy better. I would like them to drill for many reasons. I hope they drill for oil in Alaska sometime soon.

(1)- Document E

"BalancedPolitics.org - ANWR Oil Drilling (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against, Advantages & Disadvantages)." BalancedPolitics.org - Free Balanced, Non-Partisan Discussion of Political & Social Issues for Debate (Pros and Cons - Decision Making Politics). N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. <http://www.balancedpolitics.org/anwr_drilling.htm>.

. "Should We Drill for Oil in Alaska? The Advantages of and Arguments Against Drilling in the Protected Article National Wildlife Reserve." Find Science & Technology Articles, Education Lesson Plans, Tech Tips, Computer Hardware & Software Reviews, News and More at Bright Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. <http://www.brighthub.com/environment/renewable-energy/articles/9274.aspx>.