Point: Arctic Access Essential for Energy Security

The U.S. Energy Information Administration just released its annual International Energy Outlook, and it confirms we’ll need more natural gas and oil in the coming decades. A lot more. EIA projects that natural gas, oil and coal will supply about 76 percent of the world’s energy in 2050, and that world energy consumption will increase 28 percent by 2040. The United States is well-positioned to meet our energy needs and remain a world energy leader, but only if we take advantage of our resources. That’s why Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s June secretarial order calling for increased energy exploration in Alaska is such welcome news. “The only path for energy dominance is a path through the great state of Alaska,” Zinke said, and the data back him up. Just a small section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is estimated to hold between 4.3 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of oil. At the high end — that’s more than 10 times the amount of oil produced in 2016 in Texas — the nation’s leading producing state. In the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), the U.S. Geological Survey estimates 895 million barrels of oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are waiting to be unlocked. That’s more than 10 times the natural gas Pennsylvania — the nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer — produced in 2016. Adding the equivalent of a second Texas and Pennsylvania to our energy supply would greatly enhance U.S. energy security. And we can do it safely...more

For an alternative viewpoint, please see: Counterpoint: A Special Place Faces a Deadly Threat