APES+Current+Event+Arctic+Refuge+Drilling

=Here’s What Oil Drilling Looks Like in the Arctic Refuge, 30 Years Later = The New York Times (December 15th,2017) (Accessed December 15th, 2017) Provided Link: []

Summary: In the article above Henry Fountain discusses the hot topic of drilling in the Arctic Refuge and how unlike what many people say now, it is not something that is incredibly pretty. The article chronicles a experimental well that was used during the mid-1980’s known as KIC-1, however it did not amount to much and had to be plugged. The picture reveals that the site looks far from untouched compared to the rest of the land around it and points to the permanence of human activity. He goes on to describe how the area now has changed to much because the wooden platform used to begin the project helped to melt the permafrost underneath, and create these pools of water in the spot that the oil drill was in. Lastly there is a mention to how messing with vegetation is one of those things that really impacts an area, being that the vegetation in an area is crucial to the balance of the ecosystem. In all the author wishes to inform the reader about information related to the Arctic Wild Refuge and how future oil drilling may not be as productive as imagined.

Relation to Class: In AP Environmental Science, the topic is heavily related to Pollution Prevention which is also known as Input Pollution control, which is outlined as a throughput solution that slows or eliminates the production of pollutant often by switching to less harmful chemicals or processes. (Miller 18). The author of the article is very skeptical of the benefits that will be reaped as shown by evidence from before with the oil drilling. Essentially the author asks then, “Why do something if you do not need to?” and ultimately alludes to needing to find another source of power rather than drilling for oil in an area that is so important and not necessarily even that viable for oil. In conclusion, by analyzing data and being smart about the way that someone does something, especially something that may hurt the environment, one can use to Pollution Prevention approach to dry and circumvent the event of any form of disaster in the future.

Opinion: In my opinion this is just the evidence that people needed to not drill or go and do anything related to that in the Arctic Wild Refuge. If something has not worked in the past then it would make sense that it would be a waste of time in the future, overall it is clear from the damage from just trying to look for things there constitutes humanity to look over the area. There are a plethora of other places and ways to try and fuel our world and looking to this obviously unviable area is something that could only cause damage and strife in the future to the environment. This should be considered our warning about working in the Arctic Wild Refuge area and overall should keep it at the designation that it has, a refuge.

Environmental Law: A law that could be related to this current event article would be the **Soil and Water Conservation Act of 1977**. It was created within Soil and Water Conservation Program in the Department of Natural Resources to help save soil and water through conservation by preventing erosion. This law should be applied to this instance because as the article mentioned with the effects of the attempted drilling it created these water pockets that contributed to soil erosion and the pollution of water. This law looks that trying to conserve 2 really important things provided by Earth to keep not only an ecosystem healthy but the Biosphere as a whole.

 The image above is from the //US Fish and Wildlife Service // and it shows the scar left behind from the attempt at oil drilling in the Arctic Wild Refuge.

<span style="font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Article Citation: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Fountain, Henry. “Here’s What Oil Drilling Looks Like in the Arctic Refuge, 30 Years Later.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2017, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">[]