Drilling Debate in Alaska

I became interested in drilling after researching why drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is a bad idea in writing class. After Cold War, American government bought a piece of ground which is closed to Bering Strait, Asian land and Canada from Soviet Union. After fighting with America during Cold War, Soviet Union lost most of their armament, they didn’t have enough money to recover their military. They had to gain enough money so that they could still keep their military strong and stay at preceding status among world’s other countries. Now that place is named by American government which is called Alaska. As we know, Alaska state is the biggest state in America, many people are interested in researching it because people want to know how many resources are stored in Alaska state and people also want to figure out whether the resources in Alaska state are useful and harmless for consumers to use. Not long before, as soon as oil producers explored that there were many oil resources storing under or near Alaska state, they raced to control the oil field and started drilling as much as they could. After many experts knew there were many oil produces drilling in Alaska ANWR crazily, many different scientific experts started a serious debate on whether we can drill in Alaska. Oil drilling is big a modern problem that makes many experts argue about it. Oil is bad energy for the environment, oil reserves are getting less and less and are more difficult to explore. “Allowing companies to drill in Alaska's Northern Slope would boost the revenues of American oil companies that would like to explore the area for petroleum. Expansion of the oil industry in the Northern Slope would also create thousands of jobs and decrease U.S. dependency on oil imports from politically turbulent Middle Eastern countries. While some Democrats from oil producing states would support oil production in Alaska, a many of them oppose it. A wide range of environmental conservation groups have also formed a broad coalition against the repeal of the oil export ban. Both sides have fired up their political engines as Congressional panels consider the ANWR oil ban legislation. The ANWR, which was signed into law in 1973 by president Richard Nixon, has remained controversial even since then. Supporters of an end to the oil export ban have proposed many bills that would repeal it. In 1992, oil ban repeal supporters pushed ANWR drilling legislation through the Senate Energy Committee for the first time” (Alaska Oil Dispute). According to DOE (2008), “there is considerable uncertainly regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. DOE (2008) says that maximum potential capacity – accessing all the oil that’s available to be pumped – would not be realized until 2026. As EDF wildlife expert Michael Bean notes, the effects of development extend well beyond the physical limits of that footprint.”

As that article says, drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is exactly a bad idea. I have read many articles. I discovered that many experts propose not to drill in Alaska’s ANWR. There will be more problems against drilling in Alaska’s ANWR. Personally, I strongly object to drill in Alaska. I don’t mean that we should stop use oil among the world in every equipment. Obviously most oil producers only considered that how much oil they could drill and how much money they will gain, in fact they don’t know how dreadful consequences are coming. They neither think about more profits they gain while leaving for people to cost more power to moderate negative effects nor how difficult to spend vigor on educating people. For many oil producers, money is the most important, so do I, but If I am oil producer, I will not compete with other oil producers on pillaging oil field, I will look forward to what energy will be the most popular in the world and starting studying on the future energy. That means I will give up drilling then I will appeal other scientists to research on my program which is established by my own abilities.

Drilling cannot provide enough oil. Just because ANWR oil would be too little to drill, far more oil seeps naturally into the sea and the rate of consumption is increasing. Nowaday, many consumer know that oil is still kept providing by oil producers, but they may not know oil resources are in short supply which means oil resources are becoming less and less while the price of oil is becoming higher and higher. We should know the oil consumption is much more than oil provision. We should not only focus on how to drill more oil but also how to use oil efficiently, it means that we should start on oil consuming equipments such autos, rockets, airplanes and other machines. Many auto companies and auto addicts are seeking high horsepower autos so that they can show how advanced technologies they have invented and they are proud of them. While Japanese government restricting a ban which is every auto made by Japanese auto companies must limit their horsepower under 208 from at the beginning of twenty – first century to 2007 so that Japanese could control the wastage of oil and they could lower the consumption as much as possible. Why Japanese cancelled this ban since 2007? That is Japanese auto companies could make high horsepower autos and they could limit oil consumption in autos at the same time. For example, if they want to make a 1000 horsepower auto but could not control the oil consumption in such a lunatic auto, they will give up. That’s why Japanese government cancelled the ban to encourage Japanese auto companies to research on more efficient autos. As we know, Japanese hybrid techniques are leading other auto companies in the world. When Toyota created the first hybrid auto, American auto companies didn’t start researching hybrid techniques. According to Daniela Muhawi (Oil Drilling In Alaska, 2004). “It is virtually impossible to get an unbiased assessment of the campaign to open the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. On one hand, the recoverable oil in the refuge, possibly amounting to as much as ten billion barrels, is enough oil to supply the entire needs of the United States for about 18 months.”

It would not decrease oil prices, because demand is increasing tremendously , drilling will not make us more energy independent, and more and more people are coming out of poverty. Recently, there has been a global economic crisis which has damaged a lot of businessmen deadly. Actually, the main reason that caused the global economic crisis is energy crisis. With the population grow faster and faster, many resources such as food, energy and earth are consuming at a amazing rate. Businessmen and companies import or produce resources difficultly, so they have to raise the price of products to earn as much profit as they can in such small amounts of products in order to sustain their lives. According to Raymond James (Oil slips as demand for crude wanes, 2009), “the market doesn't seem to think that this plan is going to solve the economic problems in the short term.”

It would destroy the ecology around ANWR. It will bring harm to wildlife and ecosystems; animals world have no place to live and reproduce and it will cost much money to moderate the environment. Humans are the only selfish species who will destroy everything in our path to benefit us, if they destroy one of our largest undisturbed ecosystems what will they leave for the future generations? According to Jain (Oil Drilling In Alaska, 2009), “the amount of oil in the refuge is marginal at best. It is not going to make a difference. Also drilling in the Arctic Refuge is symbolic of a larger effort. It’s about getting into one protected area and using the momentum to get into another.” According to scientists and arctic natives (The Arctic and Alaska, 2007). “The Arctic is thawing very rapidly, documented by new reports from scientists and arctic natives. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment was released in late 2004, and shows changes from the ice at the North Pole to animals and human settlements. More recent reports from Greenland show outlet glaciers moving meters per hour and rapidly thinning. The Arctic Ocean ice cap is shrinking in summer to the smallest it has ever been in modern measurements, and even winter cold has not been refreezing it as extensively as before. That sea ice is habitat for the polar bear. Declines in bear nutrition, birth weight and survival have moved the U.S. government (urged by three environmental groups) to propose the bear be named a species threatened with extinction.”

According to Coon (Tapping Oil Reserves In A Small Part Of ANWR: Environmentally Sound, Energy Wise, 2001) “Drilling in the ANWR will not threaten that natural preserve and will increase U.S. energy independence.” Even though there are only small species of animaks living in Alaska such as polar bears, we can move them to anther place so that humans can start drilling without any troubles. I oppose his opinion, because we should invent a new less harmful and renewable energy to put in our life. We can not only keep using oil independence forever, we can’t wait for another new natural energy for a long time, right now we have to reduce the negative effects of drilling oil. If they really want to drill, they shouldn't touch Alaska. There are places in that state that likely have never felt human foot steps.

In conclusion, drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is a bad idea. Drilling can’t support enough oil, it would not decline oil prices and It would destroy the environment. The small amount of oil that American would get ten years from now is not worth the damage that it would do to Alaska's environment. They need to put more emphasis on renewable resources and get them into production instead of continuing to rely on fossil fuels. I'm against drilling in the ANWR, but there may be other areas of Alaska that would be fine. However, they need to develop other sources of energy, so they are not reliant on this diminishing resource, foreign or domestic. In the end, people should stop drilling oil in Alaska’s ANWR.

References
Alaska Oil Dispute. http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/WM27.cfm
Knickerbocker, B (2008, February 5). Polar bear habitat at center of Alaska drilling debate. Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0205/p03s03-uspo.html?page=1
Live Earth Blog (2007, May 27). The Arctic and Alaska. http://www.liveearthblog.org/environmental-news/the-arctic-and-alaska.html
Muhawi, D (2004, December 18). Oil Drilling In Alaska. Ecoworld.com. http://ecoworld.com/features/2004/12/18/oil-drilling-in-alaska/
Revkin, A. C. (2003, March 5). Experts Conclude Oil Drilling Has Hurt Alaska's North Slope.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1D9143FF936A35750C0A9659C8B63
The Associated Press (2009, February 17).Oil slips as demand for crude wanes. MSNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/
">http://american.edu/ted/alaska.htm

Coon, C. E. (2001, August 1). Tapping Oil Reserves In A Small Part Of ANWR: Environmentally Sound, Energy Wise. Heritage Foundation. http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/WM27.cfm

Knickerbocker, B (2008, February 5). Polar bear habitat at center of Alaska drilling debate. Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0205/p03s03-uspo.html?page=1

Live Earth Blog (2007, May 27). The Arctic and Alaska. http://www.liveearthblog.org/environmental-news/the-arctic-and-alaska.html

Muhawi, D (2004, December 18). Oil Drilling In Alaska. Ecoworld.com. http://ecoworld.com/features/2004/12/18/oil-drilling-in-alaska/

Revkin, A. C. (2003, March 5). Experts Conclude Oil Drilling Has Hurt Alaska's North Slope.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1D9143FF936A35750C0A9659C8B63

The Associated Press (2009, February 17).Oil slips as demand for crude wanes. MSNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Negative effects from drilling in Alaska’s ANWR

I became interested in drilling after researching why drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is a bad idea in writing class. Oil drilling is big modern problem that makes many experts argue about it. Oil is bad energy for the environment, oil reserves are getting less and less and are more difficult to explore. “Allowing companies to drill in Alaska's Northern Slope would boost the revenues of American oil companies that would like to explore the area for petroleum. Expansion of the oil industry in the Northern Slope would also create thousands of jobs and decrease U.S. dependency on oil imports from politically turbulent Middle Eastern countries. While some Democrats from oil producing states would support oil production in Alaska, a many of them oppose it. A wide range of environmental conservation groups have also formed a broad coalition against the repeal of the oil export ban. Both sides have fired up their political engines as Congressional panels consider the ANWR oil ban legislation. The ANWR, which was signed into law in 1973 by president Richard Nixon, has remained controversial even since then. Supporters of an end to the oil export ban have proposed many bills that would repeal it. In 1992, oil ban repeal supporters pushed ANWR drilling legislation through the Senate Energy Committee for the first time” (Alaska Oil Dispute). According to DOE (2008), there is considerable uncertainly regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. DOE (2008) says that maximum potential capacity – accessing all the oil that’s available to be pumped – would not be realized until 2026. As EDF wildlife expert Michael Bean notes, the effects of development extend well beyond the physical limits of that footprint.

As that article says, drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is exactly a bad idea. I have read many articles. I discovered that many experts propose not to drill in Alaska’s ANWR. There will be more problems against drilling in Alaska’s ANWR.

Drilling cannot provide enough oil. Just because ANWR oil would be too little to drill, far more oil seeps naturally into the sea and the rate of consumption is increasing. According to Daniela Muhawi (Oil Drilling In Alaska, 2004), It is virtually impossible to get an unbiased assessment of the campaign to open the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. On one hand, the recoverable oil in the refuge, possibly amounting to as much as ten billion barrels, is enough oil to supply the entire needs of the United States for about 18 months.

It would not decrease oil prices, because demand is increasing, drilling will not make us more energy independent, and more and more people are coming out of poverty. According to Raymond James (Oil slips as demand for crude wanes, 2009), the market doesn't seem to think that this plan is going to solve the economic problems in the short term.

It would destroy the ecology around ANWR. It will bring harm to wildlife and ecosystems; animals world have no place to live and reproduce and it will cost much money to moderate the environment. According to Jain (Oil Drilling In Alaska, 2009), the amount of oil in the refuge is marginal at best. It is not going to make a difference. Also drilling in the Arctic Refuge is symbolic of a larger effort. It’s about getting into one protected area and using the momentum to get into another.

According to Dr. Orians (Experts Conclude Oil Drilling Has Hurt Alaska's North Slope, 2004), undesirable effects in the future are likely to be greater. I oppose his opinion, because we should invent a new less harmful and renewable energy to put in our life. We can’t wait for another new natural energy for a long time, right now we have to reduce the negative effects of drilling oil.

In conclusion, drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is a bad idea. Drilling can’t support enough oil, it would not decline oil prices and It would destroy the environment. In the end, people should stop drilling oil in Alaska’s ANWR.

References
Muhawi, D (2004, December 18). Oil Drilling In Alaska. Ecoworld.com.
http://ecoworld.com/features/2004/12/18/oil-drilling-in-alaska/

The Associated Press (2009, February 17).Oil slips as demand for crude wanes. MSNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Revkin, A. C. (2003, March 5). Experts Conclude Oil Drilling Has Hurt Alaska's North Slope.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1D9143FF936A35750C0A9659C8B63

Alaska Oil Dispute.
http://american.edu/ted/alaska.htm

I was anxiety about the NBA Finals last season

Last season, there were 2 teams competing for 2008 champion. I was excited that one of them is my favorate basketball team. East region champion is Celtics and west champion is Lakers. In my opinion Kobe Byrant is the best player in NBA right now and he is leading a brilliant team, that is why I supported Lakers. Even though Celtics had big 3, Lakers had more rates to beat them. One bad situation for Lakers is their main center couldn't play because his leg was hurt. these two teams are two most champions's teams. Lakers's coach Jackson is one of the famous coach in NBA. He created Bull's dynasty. Michael Jordan was best player in Bull at that time. He got 6 champions for Bull. Right now Jackson is creating a new dynasty for Lakers. He has the best player who is most likely to Jordan. The most sucks game was in Stamples Center, Lakers had biggest lead about 24 points. Finally Celtics took turn for worse and won the game. I was surprised that how did Celtics do like this? How did such old players do this? Lakers were so careless that they had to recieve failure. At that time, I wanted to encourage Kobe to do well and hopefully I wanted to join Lakers and played with them. I am just a Lakers fan. With all Chinese Lakers fans' hope, Kobe had stress to access to champion. I bet on Lakers when they started Finals. After lakers lost Finals, I got absolutely nurvous in front of my classmates. This season I still bet on Lakers and They are stronger than last season.

I have no experiences about Valentine's Day

I am only 18 years old! I just begin my adult life. When I was in primary school, I got used to love some girls, but I still had no courage to show my love to the girl. I was very embarrassed at that time, so is now. So I have to love her inwardly and regard  her secretly. If my mom knew I love someone, she would be angry about me, so far I realize that students study in school are not finding their lovers. In China, headmasters of every schools don't allow students get lovers. Since I loved someone when I was in primary school my score had been degraded a lot. When I was in middle school, I kept loving new girls that are different from my primary school. I talked with her barely because I didn't want her to discover that I loved her. My grade was still decreasing, my mom was so disappointed at me that she sent me to America. And I didn't argue with her, I followed her advices.  Since I came to America, I also love American girls inwardly. I don't know when can I celebrate Valentine's Day with my real lover, perhaps after graduating from  university. When I take culture film class, teacher gave us the definition of American dream which is totally different from my family's dream. Moreover in Chinese culture, parents usually are in charge of making lovers.

A Real China

A Real China

In the article, "A Real China", the author denies that western countries think Chinese people live in a very poor standard; she indicated many statistics to prove the economy of China has improved rapidly since 2001. The most shocking thing is the Chinese are the third largest consumers of luxuries.

In my opinion, why China developed a lot is depend on where the resources are. In western China, large amounts of resources are located there. Chinese people are opening them up and using them to develop the southern and eastern part of China. I am from the eastern part of  China; I am familiar with that place. China has the largest population and most people live in the eastern part of China, because they want to get a satisfying job more easily. In Shanghai, 2 thirds of people are from outside. If you travel to the western part, you will see how terrible it is that people live such bad condition; you may sympathize with them. It is hard to find a flat road in the region which is surrounded by many mountains. I met with a boy before in my travel who needs to climb over two mountains to go to school everyday. China is like a combined country with a LDC and  a MDC. AS I am a Chinese, Hopefully I want to see all parts of China develop equally, and I also want CHina to be a member of MDCs.

What negative effects affect drilling in Alaska's ANWR

In the article"Why Drilling in Alaska's ANWR Is a Bad Idea," the author put forward 4 factors to support her article. First she said “drilling can’t produce enough oil;” Just because the amount of oil production can’t meet the amount of oil consumption which almost tripled production. Second, it will not decrease oil prices; as the economist said “world oil demand between 2010 and 2015 will increase by over 7 percent, and 30 percent by 2030. Third, it would damage the environment if drilling for oil in the ANWR could bring harm to wildlife and ecosystems. Last, Alaska’s ANWR is not the only place to drill, because there are millions of acres for drilling that have not been explored yet by oil companies.
Among the author’s four views, I will not agree with the last one extraordinarily. Just because something isn’t as perfect as she thought doesn’t mean it should be drilled in everywhere. What would she think if an oil company found a large amount of oil under her home? Would she be happy that she is going to do the American people good by letting them tear down her house so that others can pay less at the pump? Oil consumers don’t care and don’t know where the oil comes from. She is not going to be famous for having the original place where oil companies found oil. Even if she gets a high profit, she will spend much time constructing her new house. This will cost her a lot of energy.
The oil companies’ bottom line is their money, but to say that they are only just interested in exploring oil is a ridiculous excuse. They don’t know the earth’s surface is not only the universe’s houses but also the earth’s underground is animals’ house. Harming the wildlife of that area would be an immoral behavior; we should treat animals equally.
Keeping gas prices high is the only way people will try to let oil run out slowly and find a new type of energy source. This is a project that will cost over a billion American dollars to reduce the cost of oil by roughly fifty cents a barrel. This is assuming, of course, that there are resources to be found. According to Anwr.org, 200 million barrels of fuel can be taken from ANWR and production could last for 25 years, maybe longer. As much as we may dislike it, oil prices must stay high in order for the domestic market to demand alternative energy resources. We realize oil will run out one day but at that time we may have invented a new type of energy source, so we have no choice but to drill oil right now.
If we produce more domestic oil possibilities, such as ANWR, we need even less imported oil, the price of oil will be maintained as the same as before because quite simply, our use of petroleum is not going to simply disappear. Once oil is abundant and plentiful and relatively inexpensive, Americans will climb back in their Expeditions and Hummers and go on as usual.

Canter, S. (2008, September 11). Why drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is a bad idea. Automobiles & Fuels.

Retrieved February 3, 2009 from Google.

many troubles because of my poor English

             My flight took off from PVG and that was my first time aboarding to foreign countries! Genuinely to say, I was upset to study in America because of my elementary English level, I had trouble in communicating with American native speakers. When I was on the plane, I got a paper of entering a country which should be filled by every passengers. At that time I couldn't understand a lot of words. Iwas too shy to ask the people on the plane,so I had to take out my electronic dictionary to look up the words. When I arrived ORD airport, I had to wait for a long line to check the paper for entering. But my next desternation is St.lous, I only had 30 minutes to get ready, I was so mad that I didn't what to do. After checking successfully, I couldn't find the aboarding front check, so I went to a elder personnel to ask where is the international aboarding entrance, so he told me "terminal 3"! At that moment I was so afraid of hearing strange vocabularies, I kept on asking 3 times, he told me the same answer! I was so disappointed with my English, I looked the word up again then I arrived No.8 gate. When I showed the flight ticket to assistant. I was mad to hear "I am sorry that your ticket is overdue the plane has already taken off" . After saying that he tore my ticket, I was startled to see that, I almost shed tears, but just one second he gave me a new ticket, I was amazed to get a new ticket for free! Even though there were many accidents happening in this journey, finally I got to St.lous successfully! I lived in super 8 motal for 2 days then I moved into dormitary! I was satisfied with my dorm and soon I made a lot of friends. Even though I had a strong desire to go to SIU, I still submitted to take CESL first. Now I am in EAP2, hopefully I will go to SIU after this semster, everything is do well. With my English improving, I can do conversation with native speakers without any trouble plainly. I should thank CESL for educating me so far.

Drilling Policy in Golden State

             In the article "Golden State Gets Surprisingly Cozy with Notion of Offshore E&P," many drilling problems are mentioned by the author. The state government considered the energy industry a cash cow, so that it could cut a projected $11.2 billion budget shortfall. The state government also proposed an oil severance tax on producers because of gross value of barrels of oil, so that it can raise million dollars during California's fiscal year. Even though California is the third-largest oil producing state, it doesn't collect an oil extraction fee. Recently, while oil producers are paying regulatory fees, a corporate income tax, and sales taxes on equipment, there will be a new tax coming into effect on Jan. 1, according to the governor's office. As the government carries out some drilling limitation policy, many oil producers are still looking foward to exploring abundant plains to drill; these plains have been used as public place. Fortunately, the federal Minerals Management Service recently signed a contract with applied Maine Sciences, to help evaluate environment mitigation measures and conditions required for oil and gas projects.

             In my opinoin, the government in California is not too aewsome to threaten this arrogance; the government only benefits on tax and extraction income of oil producers, they aren't concerned about on focus on what people's feeling is or what they have often conplained about.

             As money comes from oil producers, many oil producers are becoming richer and richer; at the same time the environment is becoming worse and worse. They didn't spend money on protecting the environment. Hopefully, the government will realize the big problem coming to people rapidly, and put the money which is from the tax of oil producers in MMS.
Although the government has reduced oil producers' drilling offshore, oil producers still go against the policy to drill on the plains. As they are happy from the incoming money, they damage people's houses, they make people homeless, and they produce pollution underground to make earth become decomposed and corroded.

              In conclusion, oil producers should think about all people who live on the same earth. As they drill oil and gas crazily, they not only destroy other people's houses, but also destroy their houses. As the article said, we should get cozy by living with each other.

Sullivan, J. A. (2008, December 1). Golden State Gets Surpridingly Cozy with Notion of Offshore E&P.

Retrieved January 20, 2009 from Lexis Nexis database. Natural Gas Week.

Tuition Fee Is Totally Different Between China And U.S.

In China, most parents can offer tuition fee for their children because of low cost. There is a significant difference in middle school between China and America which charges tuition fee ridiculously. This is my first time to visit America and study in America, when I went to Faner Hall to apply my first semester, I stared blankly to Miss Carter by "$2235 for this semester"coming out from her mouth. Even if 2235 RMB I still can't accept, I can't believe this is true. That was my first day making me so loss and unacceptable. In China students just pay $1600 for a whole year to study, live play  and eat on campus. Oppositely In American students should pay $30000 for a whole year in private middle school. Generally American living quality is higher than that in China, but that is a amazing difference. Many students look forward to study in America, but after being informed from colleges they flinch. At the same time, American government rises the exchange rate between dollars and RMB. This is a huge challenge for my mom to support me on substance. I hope that American government will consider to adjust the problems and differences.