Should We Drill Alaska for Oil?

Should We Drill Alaska For Oil?

Should we drill Alaska for oil? Yes! The oil from Alaska would ease our gasoline crisis and boost the economy in the U.S. Plus, Alaska is definitely able to accommodate the drilling! I believe that drilling Alaska would benefit everyone, especially those who own cars. Although many people have different reasons why they think we shouldn’t drill there, if we do drill; many problems on both sides of the argument will gain from it. Hopefully the following facts and anecdotes will help inform those readers that disagree with me of my opinions. For those of you that already think that we should drill Alaska; hopefully this paper will strengthen your beliefs and perhaps even give you a chuckle. We should drill Alaska!

Although some might say that there is simply no where in Alaska to drill, I firmly announce that theory to be askew! Alaska has over one hundred state parks. Four of Alaska’s most popular parks total up to 1,397, 814 acres. Lets compare this with Yellowstone Park which has 2,200,000 acres. Alaska as a whole got about 49,703 tourists in the summer of 2006. Yellowstone park alone brought in about 2,870,293 visitours that same summer. If these statistics are compared you can derive that more people on average visit Yellow Stone in the summer that all of Alaska’s parks together. I propose that we take a portion of some of these numerous parks and use the needed land to drill oil. Simply put there isn’t much important stuff in Alaska. It can be compared to the salt flats in Utah in that there is no reason turn down a drilling project.

One argument against drilling in Alaska is that Alaskan soil can’t handle the pressure from the drilling equipment. This is a myth because this problem can be fixed! In essence, the Alaskan soil is covered with moss that keeps the permafrost (the frozen top layer of soil) frozen. If this moss is damaged, the permafrost thaws and creates a gouge in the earth. In “Inside the...