Arctic Oil Drilling

Gas prices are increasing roughly every month or so as a result of the scarcity of oil. Some people just shrug the price increase off and cope with it, but the economic effect is far greater than it first appears. As the price of oil increases, so does the price of all other products that are transported. There is, however, an opportunity for the United States to increase the supply of available crude oil by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The idea of drilling in the Arctic has been controversial and to the present day is still being debated. The United States’ need to determine whether drilling in the Arctic will be a worthwhile consideration, or if there are not sufficient benefits to counteract the harmful possibilities drilling possesses.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge provides many immediate economic benefits for the United States. Given the current economic struggles that Americans are already facing, jobs have been hard to obtain. With the approval to drill in the Arctic, job opportunities can be created which will decrease the job struggle. Over a million jobs will be created if Arctic drilling is approved to drill and transport the new oil. These new jobs would provide secure employment for Americans who are unemployed. This is a definite beneficial short term advantage of approving the right to drill for oil in the Arctic. In 2007, the United States imported 330 billion barrels, or sixty percent of the United States total oil (“Top Ten”). The biggest domestic source of oil is located in the North Slope oil fields. These oil fields cover nearly 214 thousand acres, and produced 25 billion barrels a day at one point and are operated by BP and Phillips. With a majority of the nation’s oil being imported, it not only needs to be transported, usually by ship, but costs a great deal more for the country as well. Georgia’s Senator, The Honorable Zell Miller, who has continually been fighting for drilling in his