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nce part of the largest Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
intact wilderness area without harming its fragile, pristine,
in the United States, and unique environment.
Alaska’s North Slope
now hosts one of the world’s largest Air pollution and greenhouse gases
industrial complexes. More than 500 Each year, oil operations on Alaska’s
miles of roads and 1,100 miles of North Slope emit more than 56,000
pipelines, as well as thousands of tons of nitrogen oxides, which con-
acres of industrial facilities, tribute to smog and acid
sprawl over some 1,000 rain. According to the
square miles of once-pristine Environmental Protection
arctic tundra. Prudhoe Bay Agency, this amount sur-
and 18 other oilfields contain passes the emissions of tems remains largely unknown,
more than 3,800 exploratory Rhode Island or Vermont some arctic species are known to be
and producing wells, 170 pro- and is more than twice the especially sensitive to air pollutants.
duction and exploratory drill amount spewed by It is also clear that North Slope
pads, 22 gravel mines, and 25 Washington, DC. Plumes of oil facilities release greenhouse
oil-production plants, gas pollution from Prudhoe Bay gases, which are a major contributor
processing facilities, and seawater have been detected in Barrow, to global climate change. Each year,
treatment and power plants. Alaska, almost 200 miles away. they emit 2 to 11 metric tons of car-
All of this activity is taking place Pollutants from its drilling opera- bon dioxide and some 24,000 to
tions, natural gas facilities, and 114,000 metric tons of methane.
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in an exceptionally fragile region.
Because of the very short summer incinerators have also been detected
in snow in the Prudhoe Bay area. Calving ground of the Porcupine caribou
growing season, extreme cold at
herd, with Mount Michelson looming
other times of the year, nutrient- Although the overall impact of beyond. This is the area where the oil
poor soils, and permafrost, vegeta- these air pollutants on arctic ecosys- industry wants to drill.
K.R.Whitten
millions of gallons of drilling and rounding environment.
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