Fool's Gold in Alaska

Oil prices have fluctuated randomly for well over a century. Heedless of this fact, oil's promoters are always offering opportunities that could make money?but on the flawed assumption that high prices will prevail. Leading the field of these optimists are Alaskan politicians. Eager to keep funding their state's de facto negative income tax?oil provides 80 percent of the state's unrestricted general revenue?they have used every major rise in oil prices since 1973 to advocate drilling beneath federal lands on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Just as predictably, environmentalists counter that the refuge is the crown jewel of the American wilderness and home to the threatened indigenous Gwich'in people. As some see it, drilling could raise human rights issues under international law. Canada, which shares threatened wildlife, also opposes drilling. Both sides of this debate have largely overlooked the central question: Does drilling for oil in the refuge's coastal plain make sense for economic and security reasons? After all, three imperatives should shape a national energy policy: economic vitality, secure supplies, and environmental quality. To merit serious consideration, a proposal must meet at least one of these goals. Drilling proponents claim that prospecting for refuge oil will enhance the first two while not unduly harming the third. In fact, not

Ancient history · Political science · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · History

• U.S. National Security Discourse and the Political Construction of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

  Kolson Schlosser, Kolson L Schlosser•Society & Natural Resources•2005

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