Arctic National wildlife refuge

[brocksw]

So it looks like the ANWR will be opened up for drilling when President Trump signs the tax reform bill in January.

Can any Alaskan chime in on this? Some media sources are saying the vast majority of Alaskans are happy about this.

To my knowledge there is some hunting permitted on the ANWR, but curious to know any Alaskans thoughts.

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[gbflyer]

My opinion is that it's probably not the best place to drill. That being said, in all honesty, how many typical American families trying to get by can afford to go see it? I'd wager not many. Other than the few trappers left out there, a few nearby villages, and
the other Alaska folks that have the time, money, and access to camp/hunt/recreate, it's a playground for government researchers and the Patagonia crowd that can afford upwards of $1000/day float trips.

I'd hate to see it all messed up to be sure. But who are we preserving it for? Of course the wildlife, but I have a hard time just seeing critters on a Nat Geo show.

Tough one.

 

[Huntindog45]

There are places that should remain wild. ANWAR is one of them. Sad day as far as I am concerned. And I probably will never see it. Still sad.

 

[bigsky2]

But who are we preserving it for? Of course the wildlife, but I have a hard time just seeing critters on a Nat Geo show.

No offense, but that's a terrible mindset to have when it comes to wildlife conservation. If we only cared about what we could see there would be a lot of animals in trouble right now.

 

[gbflyer]

^^^^I don't disagree. Guess it should be off limits to all human activities.

 

[gbflyer]

More to the OP question: I don't think the vast majority of Alaskans are happy about it. $50 oil won't pay for new development. And most of the jobs are filled by service companies who bring crews from the lower 48. Obviously nothing illegal about that but it rubs a lot of folks the wrong way.

 

[LostArra]

Interesting topic. Even more so after reading Coming into the Country by John McPhee.

The greatest fear involved with this move is the presence of Scott Pruitt.

 

[gbflyer]

Interesting topic. Even more so after reading Coming into the Country by John McPhee.

The greatest fear involved with this move is the presence of Scott Pruitt.

Good book. Although a little different country, I like "A Land Gone Lonesome" by Dan O'Neill equally as well.

I think a lot of folks get wrapped around the axle when they see the beautiful pictures on the TV and Internet when in reality Area 1002 that was set aside in the 80's on the coastal plain for drilling is a tiny, even more desolate sliver of ANWR that lies outside of the wilderness area on the Arctic Ocean. Seems reasonable to be have the option to do some work there someday, although there will be impact to the environment. Someone once said Alaska is the environmental conscience of America. Becomes more true every day.

 

[WRO]

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0028-01/fs-0028-01.htm

Its not really all of ANWAR, its just the 1002 area outside the wilderness which has significant native private lands in it.

Knock on wood, wildlife seems to have done fine around other north slope drilling areas. Its the economics are right, it should be good for alaskans as a lot of them work on the north slope.

 

[Ray]

It is a long way from there to where the TAPS starts. There are dozens of documents to write. Studies to be finished under modern requirements. 20 years before infrastructure goes in. Whole lot of election cycles before that. The 60 plus year old permitted cat train route to Kaktovik will be exploited during the permitting process as an existing right of way.

There have been a few exploration wells drilled "in" ANWR already, a few at Camdem Bay, and one (or two depending on who you talk to) by a native corp on Barter Island. ASRC will work with oil companies to lease their land to them for infrastructure while their share holders complain about the oil companies ruining their lifestyle. Will the share holders not cash the huge corporate dividend checks in protest?

With the current climate change processes happening the oil companies might go fully off shore to avoid the quickening of the head-ward erosion of the coastal areas in the Arctic. If the MMS (what did they change their name to after BP blow up in the Gulf?) only offers off shore leases then this will be the way that ANWR stays clean(er). Totally off shore with the barrier islands until the infrastructure gets back to Bullen Point.

The marketing against the development of ANWR uses stunning images far from the areas that will be developed. Its disingenuous to do that.

I've stood on a beach to the east of Kaktovik and watched diesel fuel perk up through the sand and spread a colorful sheen across a small lagoon. It was not the crude oil seeps of Umiat. It was diesel fuel naturally being forced to the surface. A geologist buddy met a guy that processed data from one of the wells on Barter Island. "Better than Saudi sweet crude" was all the guy would say. With only a couple private wells, and no seismic line data, they don't know how big the fields are. That is the next step before anyone will put any money on ANWR.

Supply and Demand and OPEC price fixing is what will motivate oil companies to move east from Bullen Point, which is just east of the edge of ANWR. However, even in the NPR-A where oil is forced into the hands of the oil companies, it takes up to 10 years to get the infrastructure built to get that oil into the TAPS. It will take much longer for them to head off the end of the road at Bullen Point into the wilderness of ANWR.

 

[boom]

No offense, but that's a terrible mindset to have when it comes to wildlife conservation. If we only cared about what we could see there would be a lot of animals in trouble right now.

NIMBY..not in my back yard.

i'm making it a point to go and see it now. i wish we could just leave it alone.

 

[akrdkill]

I'm on par with what Ray wrote....having worked in Kaktovik & talking to people there, there's only a few who really get out of town, not any moose so to say & caribou only if the migration shifts way north where they are...theres really no way for them to travel in the summer into ANWR

I think there's a giant misconception as to the drilling practices up north compared to the Dakotas & elsewhere.....it's extremely environmentally controlled...no spitting chew outside so to say....

there not opening but a very small portion to drilling, the pataguchi's can still do there thing......it's amazing the way people get there panties wadded up about things they really have no idea or concept of other than something they've seen on tv or a pic of
the permitting will take yrs to come to fruitation...look how long it took Pt Thompson to become a reality...theres no rd to it & prob never will be

 

[Gr8bawana]

Yeah most of us will never see the ANWR so who cares if it gets ruined by drilling? That's great attitude to have.

 

[brocksw]

Let's keep this intelligent and civil gentleman.

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[Ray]

With today's ridiculous amounts of easy to find information, I am dismayed at what catches the attention of the masses. Drilling in ANWR has been an issue since the refuge was expanded under ANILCA by Jimmy Carter. I was a kid then, and now I am middle aged. Still on the radar and in news cycles.

So, while all ya'all are looking over there at all that wilderness being exploited, a Canadian mining corporation is in the process of permitting the building of a private road across public lands to extract minerals from the Ambler mining district. As with the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe in the 1980's, that private road will eventually become a public road once public dollars start going towards its maintenance.

BLM Ambler Link

Private Ambler Link

Media links....well other than in local AK news and industry journals, US News and World Report an Courthouse News are it.

I grew up in NV and OR where most roads were originally part of some kind of resource extraction dating back to the 1800's. With the rivers (and swamps) across AK, road building for resource extraction didn't pencil out back then. I find it strange that it pencils out now.

 

[adventure907]

Drill baby Drill....

The misinformation that has been spewed for years by the whackadoodle environmentalists has forever tainted any rational discussion about drilling in the 1002 area.

 

[duchntr]

This topic seems to ellicit a very emotional response from both sides, and logical discussion seems to get derailed every time. Ray lays it out very clearly. As to the question I haven't met a single "local" against further exploration and resource development in ANWR.

 

[Billinsd]

This topic seems to ellicit a very emotional response from both sides, and logical discussion seems to get derailed every time. Ray lays it out very clearly. As to the question I haven't met a single "local" against further exploration and resource development in ANWR.

The locals probably believe it will benefit them, without causing irrepairable harm to the environment. It would be "nice" to protect the area, but I'd rather that the country be more self dependant. The benefit of utilizing the resources greatly outweighs the perceived negative impacts to the environment.

 

[Billinsd]

With today's ridiculous amounts of easy to find information, I am dismayed at what catches the attention of the masses. Drilling in ANWR has been an issue since the refuge was expanded under ANILCA by Jimmy Carter. I was a kid then, and now I am middle aged. Still on the radar and in news cycles.

So, while all ya'all are looking over there at all that wilderness being exploited, a Canadian mining corporation is in the process of permitting the building of a private road across public lands to extract minerals from the Ambler mining district. As with the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe in the 1980's, that private road will eventually become a public road once public dollars start going towards its maintenance.

BLM Ambler Link

Private Ambler Link

Media links....well other than in local AK news and industry journals, US News and World Report an Courthouse News are it.

I grew up in NV and OR where most roads were originally part of some kind of resource extraction dating back to the 1800's. With the rivers (and swamps) across AK, road building for resource extraction didn't pencil out back then. I find it strange that it pencils out now.

It's the gangplank theory. I'm here now, I got my house and roads and that's enough. Stop now, I'm here, but no one else can come here. No expansion, nope I'm not having kids, keep things as they are now after my parents moved here, spawned me and I grew up. Stop everything, right now that "I'm here"!!. I don't care about future generations, I'm a selfish, liberal hypocrite.

 

[elkduds]

The locals probably believe it will benefit them, without causing irrepairable harm to the environment. It would be "nice" to protect the area, but I'd rather that the country be more self dependant. The benefit of utilizing the resources greatly outweighs the perceived negative impacts to the environment.

How many times can you be wrong in 1 post? You have no idea what the locals believe, or who they even are. The USA produces so much oil and gas that we have surpluses in storage, decades worth of untapped land that has already been leased for drilling, and exports oil and gas. So the self dependence was exceeded years ago. The benefit of "using the resources" is to the oil companies, who annually report record profits for their wealthy investors, just got a nice tax cut, and pay less than half the market value of leases on public land to the American public. Because that is how the politicians they employ have set the laws.