Posted: 05/25/2006
ANWR Victory Big Step To Energy Independence
NCPA E-Team Scholar Says Victory Long Overdue First Ste
DALLAS (May 25, 2006) - The House voted today to allow the expansion of drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett says expanded drilling in ANWR will help increase domestic supplies of oil and gas as well as give the government an extra $111-173 billion in tax revenues and royalties from oil companies.
"Consumers want the government to do something about the high price of oil and this is a good first step," said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. "A nationwide poll found that 59 percent of Americans favor further exploration of ANWR."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy development on ANWR's northern coastal plain could deliver to the lower 48 states nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day at peak production. That is more than the amount we import from Saudi Arabia every day.
A 1980 law doubled the size of ANWR to 19 million acres expressly permitted Congress to develop a process through which exploration and production could proceed. Then-President Jimmy Carter hailed the bill as a great compromise that "strikes a balance between protecting areas of great beauty and value and allowing development of Alaska's vital oil, gas, mineral and timber resource."
"Drilling in ANWR is economically and ecologically sound," said Burnett. "There is no indication that indigenous wildlife would be harmed or hindered in any way, especially since they have flourished along the North Slope and Prudhoe Bay."