To Drill Or Not Drill

            
             The scarcity of oil becomes a more and more serious issue in our country. The oil price rises from below $10 a barrel in 1998 to $26 per barrel in 2001. Our government is planning to drill oil from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ANWR in Alaska to solve the oil crisis. However, there are many environmental groups oppose this idea because they dont want any wild animals or people who lives there to be affected. There are no doubt that oil drilling creates many problems such as pollution to the environment and the well-being of human and many wild animals, however, oil drilling can increase the import of oil supply that help to reduce the gas price, boost up the economic by creating more job opportunities and lower gas prices for consumer. .
             Many environmental organizations believe oil drilling at ANWR would cause pollution to our world due to oil spilling and it might cause serious damage to the wild animals living environment. According to the article of Are Alaska's Many Oil Fields Safe? By Jim Carlton, .
             "On April 15, a corroded pipeline spilled roughly 100,000 gallons of crude oil and saltwater onto the delicate tundra. Crews working in below-zero conditions plugged the leak in 12 minutes -- but that was long enough to poison vegetation across an area the size of two football fields." (http://www.anwrnews.com/docs/20010710_Wall_Street_Journal.asp).
             Oil spill is a major concern for environmental groups because once an oil spill occur; it would pollute a large area of land or water and it would kill many species at a very fast pace. .
             Indeed, environmental group also believe oil spill is not the only reason that might cause pollution and damage to many species, even oil drilling might cause serious impact to wild animals. According to the article of Is a year of oil worth a major ecosystem, .
             "The narrow coastal plain that the Bush administration would open to drilling is where the 129,000 animals in the Porcupine Caribou herd give birth to their calves a region where the Gwishin have long chosen not to hunt, calling it "vadzaih googii vi dehkit gwanlii" the sacred place where life begins.