Drilling for oil in Alaska: Should The US Do It?
The entire political fraternity in America, including environmentalists and other concerned citizens, have been debating the issue of drilling in Alaska and rightly so. This is a sensitive issue since it deals with wildlife that is likely to suffer damages due to drilling and the other things surrounding it. There are the Oil Companies on one side pressing the government to give them the go ahead to drill within the Alaskan Wild Life Reserve. However, this could have a great impact on the ANWR.
Some 24 Republicans in the House of Representative are against the idea of drilling within the ANWR, and have taken a bold step by signing a letter that states their unwillingness to support any Bill if it has anything that makes drilling in the ANWR in it. These Republicans mainly represent states that are in the northeastern region of the country and they are going in a different direction than most of the House Republicans and the House Resources Committee Chairman who is also Republican and are in support of drilling in the ANWR. The bill presented before the Senate is called the Outer Continental Shelf gas exploration bill and it has passed thus it may soon become law.
It is the hope of many Senators that by drilling for oil in this region would increase the supplies of domestic energy thereby cutting back on the national deficit. From an economic viewpoint, oil drilling on a massive scale in the Alaskan Reserve region can boost US oil production domestic levels. While supply of oil is likely to increase the demand may decrease resulting in lower prices of oil. This will lead to a decrease in the level of imported oil which America currently depends on to a large extent. Using the theory of supply and demand may reduce prices of oil throughout the US but at the cost to the wildlife.
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