Advantages Of Usage Of Renewable Energy Resources Instead Of Oil Or Natural Gas That Include Drilling Or Fracking

A long debate has been going on in the United States since 1977 to address the question of whether to drill or not to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The people who support the drilling/fracking activities believe that opening less than 3% of the ANWR for responsible energy production can bring economic benefits. Some of the economic benefits include: generate revenue which would help pay down the nation’s debt; reduce the need for oil imports from foreign countries thus making the country more energy independent; contribute to significant economic growth by creating more job opportunities etc. (House Committee on Natural Resources, 2017).

On the other side of the coin, the people who oppose the drilling/fracking activities fear that the process can be devastating and cause potential environmental degradation as well as potential threat to wildlife. As for example, in 1989 due to the Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, hundreds of thousands of birds were covered by oil and died. This reveals the fact that if a major accident/oil spill occurs in ANWR, it could cause widespread and permanent damage to the ecosystem and destroy the wildlife and the area’s natural beauty (Stanford University, 2017). However, if you think about the little economic benefits, drilling or fracking could be beneficial to some extent (as I have mentioned earlier).

Then again if you consider the environmental and resource economics specifically, one can say that though drilling has some positive aspects but the negative consequences overweigh the positive ones. I don’t believe the fact that the U.S. should pursue drilling in ANWR for reduction of vulnerability to imported oil. Oil drilling at ANWR fails to reach out all levels of sustainable development. This oil drilling can be devastating in the long run as it causes major environmental damages. Moreover, I also don’t believe that the U.S. should continue to actively use fracking as a source of natural gas. Some may say that the burning of natural gas emits fewer greenhouse gases than coal or oil.

But if we look at the full life cycle of natural gas, the observation will not be the same as extraction of natural gas causes harm to the living beings as well as the environment. In the fracking process, water mixed with full of dangerous chemicals is pumped into the ground in huge amounts which creates problems in and around areas including water contamination, air pollution, damage infrastructure from pressure and waste water injection etc. (Conserve Energy Future). We must think about the alternatives if we don’t want drilling or fracking activities to destroy our environment. The policy should focus on increasing investment in renewable energy resources (biofuel, solar, wind, hydroelectric power etc.) to sustain our environment in the long run.

Biofuel which can be used as a substitute for petroleum reduces carbon emissions thus can have beneficial impacts on climate change. Solar power produces electricity without the pollution of carbon dioxide thus can be better than natural gas. Additionally, there can be a provision of subsidies to those people who use energy efficient option like hybrid cars or high efficiency vehicles. Thus promoting usage of renewable energy resources instead of oil or natural gas, our environment can withstand in the long run.