i have a science project and i need help!! im basically talking about environmental issues in the alaskan tundra and im focusing on oil drilling. i need to know who it affects (oil drilling), how it might cause a negative chain of events, and how it might impact relationships among non-human organisms. im trying to research it right now and i cant find anything helpful. please help!!
2007-02-16 14:12:24 · 5 answers · asked by niku 1 in Environment
And when you have an oil spill on the tundra? Don't say it won't happen, you forget Valdez too quickly. I'm not from Alaska, but my brother went to school in Fairbanks for 6 years, I visited for a few months, the pipeline is a nasty scar across the face of that beautiful state. And it takes what? About 10 years for tundra to recover from being stepped on? Oh, no, oil hasn't hurt Alaska, it keeps the Alaska Permanent Fund going, and gives a lot of people jobs.... ANWR is ours, too, you know, and I don't want the crap on my land.....
2007-02-16 15:47:15 · answer #1 · answered by gimmenamenow 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Edit---I have to say that im miffed by the two thumbs down I have recieved. one I am assuming is by the younglady who has visited alaska. in response. I have not forgoten Valdez, I can't. I lived through it cleaned the birds and the shore line. watched thousands of sea animals die as a result of negligence. I also saw first hand for 18 years the PFD that you brought up. yes alaskans make money for living there because of Oil. We also pay a hefty fee for it. I wager that in visiting Alaska one of the first things you wanted to see was the pipeline. not to see the oil spill in valdez but the marvel of engineering that transports billions of crude oil from the north slope to the coast. It may be a "scar" but it is currently a major artery for the United States and should that artery stop pumping the US will surely grind to a slow stop. At the bottom of my piece I went on to say what I would like to see happen. If you read again you will see that though I support drilling I also desire an alternative, neigh I demand it. Thanks for the thumbs down.
Lastly, I lived there for 18 yrs and barely saw a fraction of the state. It is so large and remote that most people will never see the Whole thing unless the fly over it (which, unless your in it touching it and surrounded by it doesn't count)... the areas in question>ANWAR and portions of the north slope< are areas that will never be seen by the majority of people that visit or move to Alaska. there are no roads no airfields or boat docks. it is, for all intents and purposes, another world.
original comment--As an Alaskan for 18yrs and having been out of the state for 11 I can say that the effect on Alaskan tundra is minimal at most. Studies done in the late 80's and early 90's have shown that animals, bugs, birds, and fish suffered no adverse effects and infact many saw great increases to their populations... the plantlife is the same story. with the exception of the platforms that have to be built to support an opperation there is no effect on the surrounding tundra. It should be said that during the construction of the first drilling platform every effort was made to learn the impact that was made and from that point on the companies that have drilled on the north slope have made an effort to lessen the impact from the lessons learned by the first well. during the construction of the TAP the service road and the pipeline were merged into a 60 ft wide 9-20 ft high berm so as to minimize impact on arctic tundra. since that point caribou have used the service road to escape the billions of mosquitoes that inhabit the muskeg in the arctic. During the winter the caribou also use the elevated sections to "warm up" because the pipeline is heated to facilitate pumping. The question not asked but alluded to has this for an answer... Opening ANWAR to exploration and drilling is not only a good deal but one that will have very little negitive impact and I support it whole heartedly... That said I would also like to see the US Government put forth the money needed to research more environmentaly friendly energies such as Hydro, Wind and Solar. I would love to see a hydrogen cell become viable in the next 5-10 years and Marketed at a price that all americans can afford. Dinosaurs will only power the world for so long before they become exstinct a second time.
2007-02-16 22:52:53 · answer #2 · answered by Patrick M 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It doesn't, really. Oil drilling would only affect it from an asthetic point of view, and even then, the effects would be only minor. The part of Alaska in wich the drilling is proposed is, for the most part, concentrated on a small area of the coast, so it would only affect the beauty of an area about the size of Manhattan.
2007-02-16 22:24:03 · answer #3 · answered by severedhead15 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It doesn't. It has zero effect on caribou, polar bears, seals, whales, land, ice, the weather, the temperature, the air, or much else. There isn't a lot up there but snow and ice and super cold. The wild animals just ignore the humans and go around anything man puts there.
It will affect us by getting less expensive oil down here.
2007-02-17 00:45:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
This website will answer all of your questions. Tons of good info there:
http://www.arcticrefugeaction.org/
2007-02-16 22:21:56 · answer #5 · answered by The Man In The Box 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋