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Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — Immediately to the west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, drilling has been underway for more than three decades at the Prudhoe Bay oil field complex, which covers … Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wilderness.org 47 What’s at Stake? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a spectacular wilderness of boreal forests, rugged mountains, sweeping tundra vistas, wild rivers, coastal lagoons, and barrier islands. Located in the northeastern corner of Alaska, the Arctic Refuge features a complete range of arctic and sub-arctic ecosystems and an
wilderness.org 48 At the same time, legislation to designate the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain as federally-protected wilderness has been introduced in every Congress since 2001….Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge… What Would Drilling Mean to the Arctic Refuge? The oil industry claims it can develop the Arctic Refuge in an “environmentally sensitive” manner and points to its history in Prudhoe Bay. But in March 2006, a leaking pipeline spilled close to 270,000 gallons of crude oil at Prudhoe Bay and, in August 2006, BP was forced to shut down a significant portion of the Prudhoe Bay pipeline complex because years of inadequate maintenance led to dangerous corrosion in miles of pipelines. According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, an average of more than 400 spills of oil and other toxic substances were reported every year between 1996 and 2004. In fact, more than 1.7 million gallons of toxic substances have been spilled in the last six years alone.