Many parts of the Arctic have been drilled for oil over recent decades. The rock beneath the ice and snow holds a wealth of natural fossil fuels which various governments and corporations have sought to exploit in order to benefit from the profits and industrial development that such a resource brings.
This week, it has come to light that the US government is now going to allow a new plan to go ahead to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is an area in north-east Alaska which is home to many different animals including reindeer and polar bears and many other mammals and birds. It sits above millions of barrels of oil which can be extracted by drilling deep down into the ground.The government say that drilling for oil will provide jobs for hundreds of Alaskan people and generate large amounts of income for the area. However, we have already seen from other projects like this that the environment is usually destroyed to the point of no return and animals have to migrate elsewhere which disrupts the balance of the ecosystem.
Many people also feel (now more strongly than ever) that there is no room for these kinds of projects with the current impacts of climate change hitting almost every corner of the globe. They believe money should be being invested into green alternative energies, and not finite fossil fuels whose reserves will quickly be used up. There is no need that is great enough to risk having the oil spills, habitat destruction, noise pollution, and the increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from another oil refinery.
Arctic areas are seeing the impacts of global warming more than ever, with ice melting at an increasing rate and more and more risk to polar bears who rely on the ice for fishing and migrating. It seems, illogical, therefore, to go ahead with such an outdated and dirty fossil fuel extraction project in an area that it trying to cling on to its status as a pristine wilderness.
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