With Temperatures Rising, Arctic Oil Search May Require Underwater Drilling

News that 70% of the Arctic National Wild Refuge, or ANWAR, is now underwater may have thrown a wrench into the Bush administration’s plans to drill for oil beneath the coastal plain. But despite concerns about the expense and difficulty of transporting off-shore oil rigs to the refuge, the administration may have won the support of a new key ally: Arctic wildlife and their defenders. As polar bears and seals see their habitat dissolve beneath them amid rising temperatures, the arrival of offshore oil rigs could give them something to hang onto.

Bush administration stands by ANWAR plan, but some in oil industry balk

By Deanna Swift

WASHINGTON, DC—The recent Republican rout may have given President Bush the political boost he needs to push through a measure authorizing the opening of the Arctic National Wild Refuge, or ANWAR, to oil exploration. But with a newly released report indicating that 70% of ANWAR is now under water due to accelerating climate change, the process of extracting oil from the environmentally sensitive refuge may prove far more costly than either the administration, or its allies in the petroleum industry, had anticipated.

According to an eight-nation report put together by 250 scientists, the Arctic is warming rapidly due to a build up of heat-trapping gasses from cars, factories and power plants. Warmer temperatures have caused the Arctic ice cap to shrink by as much as 20%, eroding the habitat of polar bears, sending Inuit hunters plummeting through the ice and leaving huge swathes of the region under water.

Offshore drilling rigs needed?

Despite the bleak and watery forecast, the Bush administration announced this week that it has no intention of signing on to any treaty limiting greenhouse gases, and that it will barrel ahead with plans to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge. But analysts now say that drilling for oil on the sensitive land—already a costly proposition—just got a whole lot more complicated.

Original plans to extract as much as 11 billion barrels of oil from beneath ANWAR’s coastal plain—enough to fuel American cars, trucks and SUV’s for nearly one and a half years—involved bringing in millions of tons of equipment and drilling holes of up to 15 thousand feet deep through the ice shelf. But with most of that ice shelf now melted, oil companies including ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobile will have to consider transporting offshore-drilling rigs that can float on top of the underwater reserve.

The rigs, know as Jack-Ups, equipment resembling a moon-landing craft that can be used in water depths of 10-100 meters, will be extremely costly to transport, says petroleum industry analyst Dale Burnie, and even more expensive to operate. “Underwater oil exploration is a costly proposition in the best of circumstances. Your maintenance and operating costs are already pretty high. But in an Arctic environment you’re dealing with temps that put the equipment itself at risk,” says Burnie. “It’s the worst of both worlds.”

Jobs at sea

While news that much of ANWAR is now under water has dampened the enthusiasm of many oil company executives—some of the project’s strongest backers—not everyone is dismayed. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and its head, James P. Hoffa, an early supporter of Alaska oil drilling, signaled its continued support for the endeavor this week, arguing that thousands of truck drivers, construction workers and longshoremen will be needed to transport the offshore rigs, then drill through the water to where oil is believed to lie.

The Teamsters have long argued that by creating thousands of highly-paid construction and industry jobs, ANWAR won’t just fill the coffers of multinational petroleum companies, but will enrich working people too. “This is a little different from what we originally signed on for,” said Teamster spokesman Chip Moser. “We’re going to have to prepare our guys to spend months, even years, working on the open water. But when they get back to land, they’re going to be much better off financially.”

Good news for polar bears

With House and Senate Republicans expected to push for Alaska refuge drilling legislation early next year, environmentalists are already preparing for an all-out war to protect what they maintain is a one-of-a-kind breeding ground for polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and millions of migratory birds. Some of those species are already threatened by the rapid increase in temperatures in the region. According to the eight-nation report on rapid Arctic warming, polar bears and seals are seeing their habitat quite literally dissolve beneath them.

But for these endangered animals, say some drilling proponents, the arrival of offshore drilling rigs may come as something of a reprieve. “These rigs have a lot of surface area, some of which could even take the place of the melted habitat,” says Dr. John Rodgers, founder of Arctic Watch, an organization of scientists who favor Arctic drilling. “Some of these species were out of here. Now with the semi-submersible rigs, they’ve got a future too.”

Deanna Swift can be reached at deannaswift1@yahoo.com

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