Congressmen who have been flown over ANWR in oil-company jets have stood before cameras owned by media conglomerates and told us that the North Slope is a wasteland atop an endless supply of oil. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The North Slope is home to polar and grizzly bears, wolverines, musk oxen, wolves, and the Porcupine caribou herd. The Gwich'in people have lived in symbiosis with this herd for at least 10,000 years. All the beauty and magnificence we associate with the Arctic is there, intact and in abundance.
Less impressive are the oil reserves under ANWR. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are 3.2 billion barrels of oil there. This sounds like a lot, but we Americans are consuming 7.1 billion barrels a year, and that number is expected to grow. At best, ANWR would provide a six-month supply of oil. ANWR is not even remotely a solution for our energy problems.
