A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point
This article is about how Alpine is the newest westernmost of the North Slope Oil Fields in Deadhorse, Alaska. Soaring gas prices spurred North Slope companies to commit $75 million to plan a $10-billion gas pipeline. Petroleum geologists asserted that the oil industry could move without causing more than cosmetic damage. At seven billion barrels, it would hold half as much profitable petroleum as Prudhoe Bay in 1977. Industry says that 10 years would pass between decision to open the refuge to development and first flow into Alaskan pipeline. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) suggests that if the USGS estimate of 7 bbo is correct, then the 1002 Area will generate fewer than 200,000 barrels a day for the first five years and petroleum consumption will go from 19.5 million to 23 million.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I think that we should put a stop to drilling in Alaska. Named for section of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 that set aside 1.5 million acres of fed property in deference to geologists' guesses that region entombs billions of barrels of oil. Same act placed 1002 Area inside the 19-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in deference to biologists' observations that the coastal plain provides a premium Arctic habitat.
If global climate is changing, its effects will be magnified in northern latitudes. What should be happening is getting people educated and aware of whats going on in Alaska.
So what?:
Says who?:
What if...? We didn't stop this:
What does this remind me of?: Fracking. Both drill deep down under ground and cause many problems.
- Prudhoe and Kuparuk are the most oil-rich onshore fields in America
- New fields in Alaska will pump their oil through Alpine’s pipes
- Soaring gas prices helped contribute to the growing oil demand
- One of the most protected areas is currently being explored for oil exploration. Bureau of land management would restrict activities to ensure wildlife is preserved
- This is a political matter& the opinions of scientists matter no more than that of the common public
- Size of formation, thickness, porosity- each has an error bar
- How much oil that is profitably recoverable is more important
- Congress instigated one of the longest environmental turf wars of the past century.
- Sen. Frank. H. Murkowski introduced S. 389 which would open 1002 to oil and gas exploration.
- The bill allows the Bureau of Land Management to restrict activities to ensure that they will result in no adverse effect on fish and wildlife, habitat and environment
- 245 biologists signed open letter to President Bill Clinton urging him to bypass Congress and declare the area a wilderness.
- Petroleum geologists asserted that the oil industry could move without causing more than cosmetic damage.
- Eight groups of Geologists relied on a single set of data from a seismic survey made in the winters of 1984 and 1985 to see amount of oil and gas that sit below 1002 Area
- Source rocks, trap formations and extent of migration all must be estimated based on analogies and prior of experience.
- Using pictures to look at formations used to estimate amount of oil
- Size of formation, thickness and porosity each has an error bar.
- 8 studies arrived at widely divergent estimates
- Best assessment is from Kenneth J. Bird from the U.S Geological Survey (USGS)
- Results were more than one estimate, relevant figure is not how much oil but how much can be recovered.
- Bird's group concluded that thorough exploration would most likely yield seven billion barrels of economically recoverable oil. $24 a barrel
- Problem with seismic survey: terrain
- Wide, low-pressure tires of seismic trucks leave little trace on flat, frozen snow
- Seismic surveys generate clues, not discoveries. For petroleum geologists, truth emerges only from holes in the ground. Once the supercomputers have spit out their images, exploration teams would fan out across 1002 to drill wells.
- Mobile drill rig weighs 2.2 million pounds
- If oil is recovered, plants must be built
- Oil development could affect animals in many ways.
- Drilling is injected deep into wells or burned, which reduces impact of foxes and bears. There are other emissions though.
- Scents up to 700 workers and noise of numerous trucks, turbines and engines waft over tundra.
- How animal inhabitants of 1002 area would react is a puzzle to which biologists have only pieces of a solution.
- There could be serious noise pollution if drilling were to happen
- Pushing Caribou concentration down foothill would reduce annual calf survival by 14%
- If the arctic refuge were to remain intact, scientists could determine if higher temperatures are due to industrialization or global climate change
This article is about how Alpine is the newest westernmost of the North Slope Oil Fields in Deadhorse, Alaska. Soaring gas prices spurred North Slope companies to commit $75 million to plan a $10-billion gas pipeline. Petroleum geologists asserted that the oil industry could move without causing more than cosmetic damage. At seven billion barrels, it would hold half as much profitable petroleum as Prudhoe Bay in 1977. Industry says that 10 years would pass between decision to open the refuge to development and first flow into Alaskan pipeline. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) suggests that if the USGS estimate of 7 bbo is correct, then the 1002 Area will generate fewer than 200,000 barrels a day for the first five years and petroleum consumption will go from 19.5 million to 23 million.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I think that we should put a stop to drilling in Alaska. Named for section of Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 that set aside 1.5 million acres of fed property in deference to geologists' guesses that region entombs billions of barrels of oil. Same act placed 1002 Area inside the 19-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in deference to biologists' observations that the coastal plain provides a premium Arctic habitat.
If global climate is changing, its effects will be magnified in northern latitudes. What should be happening is getting people educated and aware of whats going on in Alaska.
So what?:
- Drilling in Alaska
- 7 billion barrels of oil found
Says who?:
- W. Wayt Gibbs
What if...? We didn't stop this:
- Wildlife disruption
- Animals will get affected
What does this remind me of?: Fracking. Both drill deep down under ground and cause many problems.