Everything has a purpose: People have individual
purposes that are meant to be found in a lifetime. Plants produce air and
sugar, and are meals for animals. Oceans carry ships and provide air and vital
food for the aquatic life homing there. And states produce what they are known
for. Wisconsin, for example, provides dairy exports across the U.S. along with
wheat and grains. Georgia is the Peach/Fruit state, and because of the warm
climates, perfect for fruit, they are able to produce many. Alaska, however…what
is its purpose? Is it to house plants and animals? Um, probably not its main purpose, because all states have
animals. You see, when people have talents or certain qualities, they usually
incorporate that into their life’s purpose. Plants are only good for survival,
which indefinitely helps other living creatures throughout their lifetime.
Oceans also are only good for their currents and water in which it is given.
States possess certain key qualities and have certain features that allow them to
do their purpose. Without the farmlands, Wisconsin wouldn’t be able to do its
purpose. Without Georgia’s sunny weather, they wouldn’t be able to grow fruit.
Alaska, well, it was given the gift of oil. And if we somehow don’t recover the
oil from the grounds below, how will Alaska be able to perform its purpose?
Without drilling now, we
are forced to supply upon foreign oil. And sadly, every dollar we send to the
Middle East, Venezuela, and Russia only richens the communists and terrorists
attempting to harm the U.S.[1] Sure, we
provide for ourselves a bit currently (only about 3%),[2] but we
consume so much oil, that it wouldn’t/doesn’t make a difference after six
months.[3] But if
we drill, not only does it benefit Alaska so it can resume its purpose as a
state, but it will also help us greatly as an economy.
The drilling and land
development would create thousands of jobs. That would help us immensely,
considering one of biggest issues we are trying to solve is job loss. More
specifically however, Alaska’s OCS could produce almost 10 billion barrels of
oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, create around 55,000 new
jobs and produce $145 billion in new payroll nationally, generating a
total of $193 billion in government profits through the year 2057.[4] Opening
oil fields in Alaska would also decrease U.S. dependency on petroleum imports
from the Middle East and Latin America, boost the revenue of American oil
companies, would lower the price of oil for American oil consumers, would
increase federal, state, and local tax revenues, and lower our trade deficit.[5]And
obviously, all of this would lead us to a great, positive, economic boom. This
oil could be the ticket back to a newer, fresher, and stronger economy. And if
the oil is our ticket, we’ll still need to ride the rest of the journey in
order to get to our destination of a reborn economy, and along that journey,
we'll need all forms of energy, and this could be the start.[6]
Concern for a topic such as
this, is aimed towards more of the environmental side usually. But we get so
distracted by this sometimes, that we don’t even realize or think about the
actual people of Alaska. The truth of
the matter is that the Inupiat people of Alaska are all for the drilling. [7]They
realize that, yes, so far we have kept our promises for not drilling in
restricted areas, so they figure that we should drill for reward. However, that
is not their main logic. They know that the drilling would richen their tiny
poor area, and the economy within the area would dramatically rise economy-wise
in a positive matter. And any help we can manage into our devastated economy
will help.
Since the oil is deep
underground and people state that it will clearly take years to reclaim…then
why complain about it? I mean, why do we have any reason not to start now? It’s
not like the prices on foreign oil are going to go down anytime soon, so why
shouldn’t we take the initiative to start doing something productive? I’m not
sure. But we might as well start on the thirteen-year drill[8] now
before we regret it when we can’t afford oil at all.
Alternative energy
sources are the future, but for right now they're too expensive and
underdeveloped, so oil from ANWR could help fuel the world economy in the
meantime.[9] Of
course if we had the opportunity to grasp the use of substitutable energy
supplies, we would. I mean, who wouldn’t? If we completely waste Earth’s supply
of oil…that would affect us greatly and negatively considering everything is
affected by the next.
Once we start
drilling, Alaska will finally be known for its purpose. It is predicted to be
the 8th largest oil province in the world, ahead of Libya, Nigeria,
Russia and Norway.[10] This will make up for all 53 years it has
not been known for anything meaningful or productive. And Alaska will finally
own the proud title of contributing great amounts of oil to America’s economy
and society.
Alaska: The Oil State.
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