Don't Drill Alaksa

Authors Note: This is a persuasive I had to write about oil drilling in Alaska.  I was working on putting in facts from other resources.

Vroom.   Crash!  This is the sound that you would hear if we began to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  And not only that we could be hearing the cries of baby animals as they are crushed by machines, choked by the smog, or driven out of their homes.  And for what?  A drop in the barrel of that sick, slick stuff we use in such abundance.  Oil, that’s the goal of the people who want to drill in Alaska's wilderness.  But I say that we should do everything possible to keep this from happening.

First the blight to the land would be huge.  It has been said that only 2,000 acres of land would be disturbed.  But in reality the oil is not in one place, it is in “more than 30 small deposits” (B).  Do you know what that means?  Forty, fifty, sixty huge holes drilled into land that is the home of plants found nowhere else in the world.  And it is not only the plants that are in danger but animals too.

This land is also “a vital birthing ground for polar bears, grizzlies, Arctic wolves, caribou and the endangered shaggy musk ox" (E).  If we began to drill in this area we could be killing these animals young, before they even had a chance at life.  Would you condemn these small animals?  For what? Perhaps not much.

How do we know that the oil in the Refuge will make as much difference as predicted?  Experts say that "the amount [of oil] from the Arctic Refuge is a drop in the bucket" (B).  Can we, based on this, justify the destruction of so much life?  Plants, animals, culture all could and will be lost if we drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

So please I beseech you to do as much as you can to stop this drilling effort.  If it begins who knows where it will stop?  North Dakota, South Dakota, Death Valley; do you want those places to be next?  I don't, and neither do the poor voiceless animals of the Refuge.  Be their voice and speak out against drilling in Alaska's wilderness. 

Bibliography

B, Document. "DBQ Alaska." 2009. DBQ Project. 15 March 2012 <http://lake.k12.fl.us/16722057105751950/lib/16722057105751950/_files/Alaskan_Oil-Student_Packet.pdf>.

Doggett, Tom. "Senate Back Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge." 7 March 2012. Science News. March 2012.

E, Documennt. "DBQ Alaska." 2009. DBQ Project. 13 March 2012 <http://lake.k12.fl.us/16722057105751950/lib/16722057105751950/_files/Alaskan_Oil-Student_Packet.pdf>.