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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

© Kenneth Friedman

The Wilderness Society calls the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the northeast corner of Alaska, America's Serengeti--a land of "sedges and grasses from the tundra, a nutritious feast for some 150,000 hungry caribou that have migrated from their wintering grounds in Canada to their calving grounds on the coastal plain."

The real African Serengeti, part of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tanzania, is noted for its wildlife. ANWR is no different. Millions of birds--more than 130 bird species--come from all around the world--Chesapeake Bay, Africa, and Antarctica--to rest and nest at the refuge.

Caribou and birds aren't the only wildlife on the 19 million acre refuge. Among the more than 250 animal species are polar and grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, arctic foxes, ground squirrels and muskoxen.

Despite the importance, magnificence, remoteness and uniqueness of ANWR in environmental terms, the oil industry has been lobbying Congress since the 1980s to pass legislation to allow drilling on ANWR. Although Congress passed a budget bill in 1995 that included an Arctic drilling provision, President Clinton vetoed it but the bill will come up again, according to the Wilderness Society.

And despite a solid history of oil spills-500 a year at Prudhoe Bay according to the Society-the oil industry argues that it can drill in, quoting the Society, an "'environmentally sensitive' manner." The Wilderness Society also points to "permitted emissions of air pollutants exceed the total emissions of at least six states." "Permitted" means both that the polluter has been granted a government permit for a specified level of pollution and that the pollution is thus allowed. The Wilderness Society also wags its finger at roads and pipelines that will block free movement of wildlife; pipeline leaks; the mining of rivers and streambeds for gravel for road, airstrips, and drillpad construction; housing for thousands of workers; and air pollution. In addition, the Society argues that smoky oil flares will extend "for miles across the arctic horizon" and that "helicopters, cargo planes, dump trucks and bulldozers; the sights and sounds of heavy equipment would at times be almost constant."

Lots to Read. Make up your own mind.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

• General Information and Development Issues
• Wildlife: mammals, fish, birds, radio archives
• Habitat: wilderness, land weather
• People: history, visitor use, interactive activities

Other Great Resources

• The Wilderness Society
• ANWR. An NGO point of view. Extensive.
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Sierra Club
• Help Save a National Treasure

The copyright of the article Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Environment is owned by Kenneth Friedman. Permission to republish Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.