ARCTIC
Explore the issues around Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Questions to Ask

Legend

ANWR Outline
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in 1980.
The current administration would like to see oil exploration in drilling in the coastal plain, known as Area 1002.
Look at the 1002 Outline.
(This outline is a not 100% accurate trace of the official FWS outline to reduce its size somewhat.)

Area 1002
The number 1002 comes from the section of The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (1980) which established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In that section, Congress deferred a decision on how to manage the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain.
This may look like a huge area, but open up the Oil Production Area and National Petroleum Reserve Layers and compare it to lands ALREADY OPEN to oil exploration.

National Petroleum Reserve
Approximate Area of the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve
The 23 million acre NPR-A lies between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean. The petroleum reserve was originally established in 1923 by President Harding to maintain an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy. Initially termed the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, it acquired its present title in 1976 with passage of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act which also transferred its management to the Department of the Interior(DOI).

Alaskan Pipeline
The alaskan oil pipeline. This map only depicts it through Fairbanks. If you zoom close enough you can follow it further by sight.

Pipeline
PIPELINE_ = 8
PIPELINE_ = 7
PIPELINE_ = 6

Oil Production Area
This is the area of land that has seen the most oil development, centering on Prudhoe Bay.

Oil Wells
These are oil wells throughout the state of Alaska. As reported by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas. More data can be found here

Hershey

Romig Park Inc

Anchorage Oil And Dev

Union Oil Co Of California

Atlantic Richfield Co

Alaska Gulf Oil Dev

Austral Oil Co

Wallace Mining Co

Bp Alaska Inc

Anchorage Gas And Oil Dev

Hackathorn Drilling Co

Peterson Oil Assoc

Aledo Oil Co

U S Bureau Of Mines

Anchorage Oil And Gas Co

Pan American

Hill Production Co

Lovely, Lum

Little Bear Petroleum Corp

American Quasar Petroleum Co

Great Plains (American) Inc

Arco Alaska Inc

Evergreen Resources, Inc.

State Of Alaska, Dnr

Gri. Inc

U S Navy

North Slope Borough

U S Dept Of Interior

Husky Oil Npr Operations Inc

Chevron Usa Inc

Humble Oil And Refining

Bp Exploration (Alaska) Inc

Mobil Oil Corp

Phillips Alaska Inc.

Standard Alaska Production Co

Hamilton Brothers

Texaco Inc

Bp Oil

Shell Oil Co

Sohio Alaska Petroleum Co

Continental Oil Co

Placid Oil

Arco

Ashland Oil Inc

Bp

Socal

Cities Service Oil Co

Amoco Production Co

Mobil

Gulf Oil Corp

Exxon Corp

Conoco Inc

Bp Expl Inc

Shell Western E And P Inc

H. G. And G. Inc

Alaskan Crude Corp

Amerada Hess Corp

Vaughn Petroleum Of Texas, Inc

Richfield Oil Corp

General Petroleum Corp

Phillips Kerr Mcgee

Standard Oil Co Of California

Alaska Native Hospital

Louisiana Land And Expl Co

Alaska Dev Co

Alaska Petroleum And Coal Co

Cunningham, Clarence

Alaska Coal Oil Co

Amalgamated Dev Co

St Elias Oil Co

Chilkat Oil Company

Alaska Gulf Syndicate

Phillips Petroleum Co

Atlantic Refining Co

Consolidated-Allied-Embassy

Copper Valley Machine Works

Fischer, Gary

Sinclair Oil And Gas

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Phillips

Alaska Petroleum Co

Alaska Oil Co

Iniskin Drilling Co

Alaska Consolidated Oil

Costello, J. H.

Pacific Oil And Com.

Marathon Oil Co

Trinity Canadian Drilling

Seagull Energy Corp.

Halbouty Alaska Oil

Forest Oil Corp

Hartog Oil Inc

Brinkerhoff Drilling Co Inc

Inexco Oil Co

Chugach Electric Assoc Inc

Amarex Inc

Stewart Petroleum Co

Ciri Production Co

Forcenergy Inc

Seatons Service Station

Alaska Propane Co

Kean, S.

Benedum, Paul G

Pure Oil

Colorado Oil And Gas

Home Oil Co

Mcculloch Oil Co

Simasko Production Co

Superior Oil

Gas-Pro Alaska

Occidental Petroleum

Union Texas Petroleum

British American Oil

Aurora Gas Llc

Standard Oil Co Cali

City Of Anchorage

Farms Oil

Inlet Oil Co

Texas International Pet. Corp.

Alaska Energy Dev Inc

Cook Inlet Region Inc

Associated Oil Co

Great Basins Petroleum Co

Colorado

Republic Geothermal

Alaska Power Auth

Hunt Oil

Pan Am

Xto Energy Inc.

Shell Western E And P In

Amoco

Shell

Amoco Prod Co

Tenneco Oil Co

Shell Oil Company

Mobil Oil Corporation

Texaco

Union Oil Co Of Cal

Cherryville Corp

Mesa Petroleum

Champlin Petroleum Co

Pennzoil Co

Exxon

Gulf

Tenneco

Unocal

Sunmark

Expl Serv

Marathon

Chevron

Sohio

Aec

Bp/Avcg

Anadarko

Cominco

Caribou and other wildlife

Photos

Arctic Footage
Wildlife footage throught the lense of Daniel Zatz

Arctic Refuge Action Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery from the Arctic Refuge Action.
Browse through the Arctic Refuge photo and video galleries to see the wildlife, landscape, and wilderness that we are working to protect.

Subhankar Banerjee Arctic Photos
See the stunning photographs of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that became a political football when the venerable Smithsonian Institution decided to deep-six this exhibit.

Caribou

Slideshow
Great photo album of pictures from a trip down the river.
(These photos were not taken by the Sierra Club)

The Brooks Range

Porcupine Herd
The Porcupine Herd heads for the coastal plain in Late May where they typically give birth to 40-50,000 calves.
The Coastal Plain is where the 1002 Area is where oil development would occur.
Looking at the Central Artic Herd -- a smaller herd to the West with a smaller range -- calving grounds have moved South and West as oil development has intensified.
Because of the Brook's Range of Mountains, the Porcupine Herd does not have the same freedom. The density of predators (wolves, grizzlies and golden eagles) intensifies as one gets closer to the Brooks Range.
Source: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/section6.htm

Herd Range
Approximate Range of the Porcupine Herd of Caribou

Porcupine Herd Migration Route
The Porcupine Herd heads for the coastal plain in Late May where they typically give birth to 40-50,000 calves.
The Coastal Plain is where the 1002 Area is where oil development would occur.
Looking at the Central Artic Herd -- a smaller herd to the West with a smaller range -- calving grounds have moved South and West as oil development has intensified.
Because of the Brook's Range of Mountains, the Porcupine Herd does not have the same freedom. The density of predators (wolves, grizzlies and golden eagles) intensifies as one gets closer to the Brooks Range.
Source: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/section6.htm

Golden Eagles
Golden Eagles prey on caribou calves. The nest in the mountains and foothills of the Brooks Range.
Source: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/section6.htm

Grizzlies
Grizzlies are most often found in the foothills, but will often venture upon the plain as well.

Wolves
Wolves can be found on the coastal plain, but are more often than not found in the foothills and mountains of the Brooks Range.
Wolves harvest 3-5% of the Porcupine Herd each year.

Central Arctic Herd
The Central Arctic Herd is a smaller caribou herd that lives among the oil wells south of Prudhoe Bay. This herd has (mostly) grown and adult caribou don't seem to mind the oil facilities.
However, the calving grounds have moved south and west of oil facilities.
Source: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/section4part1.htm

Cities, Towns and Villages

Prudhoe Bay
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has reported that the nitrogen oxide emissions in Prudhoe Bay are comparable to Washington, D.C. and that 100,098 gallons of petroleum products were spilled in 1993 alone.

Arctic Village
Arctic Village lies at the edge of the Arctic Refuge, about 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It is one of the primary settlements for the native Gwich'in people. The Gwich'in have lived here for thousands of years and are among America's original hunters and anglers and remain a subsistence culture to this day. While in the Village, some in our group dined on moose soup. The Gwich'in depend on the land for their survival, particularly the Porcupine caribou herd which calves each year on the Arctic coastal plain. It is not surprising that the Gwich'in people oppose opening this critical big-game range in the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling.
Kaktovik
Welcome to Kaktovik, or Inuuniagviat Qaaqtuvigmiut, the ancestral homelands of the native Kaktovikmiut of the Arctic Coast of Alaska.
City of Kaktovik
Fairbanks