The ANWR is located in the northeast corner of Alaska. The Refuge is about the size of South Carolina; however, the portion of the Refuge known as the 1002 Area is only about 6 percent of the total Refuge. Proponents of Refuge drilling predict that no more than 2000 acres will be disturbed if the 1002 Area is developed. The 1002 Area was excluded from wilderness designation and Congress specified that it be studied further through a comprehensive inventory of its fish and wildlife resources, and the potential for oil and gas production. In 1998, a USGS assessment of petroleum resources of the 1002 Area estimated the expected volume of technically recoverable oil beneath the 1002 area to be 7.7 billion barrels, with a 95 percent chance of 4.2 billion barrels and a 5 percent chance of 11.8 billion barrels. The U.S. currently consumes about 7 billion barrels per year. Of this, the U.S. imports about 4 billion barrels and produces about 3 billion barrels. Congressional action would also open up Native-owned lands. The overall mean estimate of technically recoverable oil for the 1002 region, including Native and state offshore areas is 10.4 billion barrels.

Proponents see potential drilling in the ANWR as extremeley promising. They point to the fact that domestic crude oil production, which has already declined from nearly 9 million barrels per day in 1985 to about 6.6 million barrels per day in early 1995, is projected to decline to less than 5 million barrels per day in 2010. This will result in a 10 million barrels/day deficit that will have to be made up with pricey foreign imports and/or new oil discoveries. (Source: anwr.org)

Opponents, while recognizing the economic benefits of such drilling, insist that such activity will disrupt the fragile ecosystem of the Coastal Plain, home to such wildlife as 130 bird species, polar bears, caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, artic foxes, whales, and wolverines.(Source: Defenders of Wildlife)

Still yet unresolved, the ANWR drilling debate will no doubt become pressing as conflict persists in the Middle East and gas prices continue to sky-rocket.