A serious issue has arose... Two valuable resources are at stake: our small supplies of oil, and our dwindling areas of nature. As a nation and a world dependent as ever for fuel, we have looked toward drilling in reserved lands set aside for wildlife to increase our supply. As our current supply is being exhausted, we look to places that are prohibited to be explored such as Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)- Specifically an area in Alaska known as '1002 Area.'               

               Inevitably, oil yielded from drilling in the proposed 1002 site would not provide a valuable amount of oil in retrospect to the damage it could cause. Permanent destruction of the delicate ecosystem spanning the 19 million acres, for drilling a mere estimate of six-months supply of oil is a surprisingly debatable issue. Effects of past drillings in Prudhoe Bay, for instance, are proof of the footprints left behind by the drilling process. And no one is even sure if the oil in 1002 Area would be economically viable to drill. This is an especially hot-topic, as our business with Middle-Eastern countries is not favored by the United States. Desperate attempts to find alternative sources have sparked desperate proposals and ideas- such as drilling in a refuge. The bottom line is that we can't have both a refuge and a drilling site in the same place.

             ANWR is a currently debated issue that has lead our group to look at two opposing points of view; those that support drilling, and those that oppose. We have performed literary searches for the raw data and general facts, as well as web-based research for the updated information. We have found that both view-points have offered valid information supporting their opinions, leaving us as researchers to acknowledge many hypotheses, but few 'known' facts. A debated topic such as ANWR leaves opinions to influence the issue. Conservationists and drilling supporters feed us opposing facts...Our group found a considerable amount of information in a spoon-fed form. Some of the facts contradicted the opposing views- yet both groups recognize one inevitable fact that drilling will change ANWR from a refuge to an economic resource.

           "So what do we do about it?"...Embrace the economic potential or embrace the nature that has the right to exist. We all support the need for oil: whether it's direct or indirect in use. But it is also safe to say that we all support having a pristine refuge. Things are often 'easier said than done' as with the issue 'to drill or not to drill'

          "So what does this mean?" An impossible compromise is yet to be made, leaving this an issue for years to come. Even if drilling were to begin tomorrow- its effects will be decades in the making. Research will follow this issue into its adolescence if it makes it that far.