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CNN Live Today

Debate Over Alaska Oil Starts Today

Aired April 11, 2002 - 10:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, not a lot of people have seen the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but they still have plenty to say about it. The president wants to drill for oil there. He says it is going to help shore up the U.S. supply. Critics, though, say it is not worth the damage to the environment.

For a closer look at what is at stake, and what is at issue here, let's go to our Mark Potter in Florida for an update on the debate -- Mark, good morning.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Well, this is a decades-old debate that surfaces periodically. We're back with it again, and at the core here is a question of value. A question of what's most important to this country is it the political and economic value of oil drilled in the United States, or is it the aesthetic and environmental value of a pristine wilderness and keeping it that way.

Now, the area we are talking about is about the size of South Carolina, 19 million acres in the northeast corner of Alaska. It's called ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the question on the table once again is whether to explore and drill for oil in the coastal plain area of ANWR. A government report says anywhere from 6 to 16 billion barrels of oil may be beneath the coastal plain. We don't really know for sure. There hasn't been exploration there since 1985, and drilling proponents say it is time to finally go in there and find out exactly how much oil is there. And they say that that and drilling can be done with a minimal impact to the environment.

Now environmentalists disagree with that. They say that drilling in ANWR would be defiling a national trust, an area that many people believe is -- they call it the American Serengetti, and they say that it actually would not be worth it to go in there, claiming that the amount of oil that could come from ANWR would be relatively small compared to U.S. energy needs, and would have a minimal impact on the U.S. requirement for oil from other countries. They also point out that if the green light were given today, we wouldn't see the first drop of oil from ANWR for eight to 10 years -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Mark, of course people across the country have an opinion about this, but what about how the issue plays in Alaska, which is traditionally a very conservative state?

POTTER: Well, polls show that most people in Alaska do favor continued drilling on the north slope area, and in ANWR. Oil has been a very important economic factor in Alaska. It has brought lots of money into state coffers, it has kept taxes low. It has provided thousands of jobs. And so, the majority opinion is in favor. There are opponents, and there is an environmental movement there, but they are in the minority.

An interesting point, Daryn, is that this issue has also split the native Alaska communities, the Eskimos to the north who are involved in the drilling business, of course, favor it. It has brought schools and police departments and hospitals to an area they said was once a ghetto before oil got there. To the south, however, the Ketchikan Indians who rely on the caribou herds for their sustenance and their spiritual base are opposed to drilling, thinking that it will harm those herds.

KAGAN: Mark Potter, thank you so much. And as we mentioned, that debate begins today. Mark Potter in Miami, thanks a lot.

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