"KLC Lewis" wrote:
For what it's worth, as of 1999, most Alaskan oil was shipped to "US
Markets" (http://www.anwr.org/features/pdfs/flyerexports.pdf).

Be advised that your source is not reliable. Arctic Power, the
owner of that web site is a lobbying organization mostly
supported by the Republican party majority in the Alaska
Legislature. Their sole purpose is to lobby for the opening of
ANWR, and they have a long reputation for less than accurate
statements. The cited PDF is no exception.

Among the errors in that particular document:

Opponents to oil and gas exploration in the Coastal Plain
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge tell people that
100 percent of the oil produced on Alaska's North Slope
is being exported.

A strawman argument. *They* made that one up, not "opponents".
Note that they fail to mention the reason no oil has been
exported since 2000 is simply because, well, shucks... the oil
companies got caught manipulating crude supplies in California
to boost the price of refined products, and had to promise
Congress that they will not export ANS crude (Alaska North Slope
crude).

There is a chance that very large oil and gas fields,
similar to the Prudhoe Bay area further west, could be
discovered in ANWR's coastal plain.

The chances of that are virtually *zero*. Nobody is suggesting
otherwise. The oil predicted to exist in ANWR is expected to be
in multiple small fields.

Oil and gas deposits have been discovered near ANWR's
western border, and a recent oil discovery may result in
the first pipeline built to western boundary of the
Coastal Plain.

That's some sort of a joke I guess. The Badami field is the
closest producing oil field to ANWR. It has been a very
disappointing project, and was actually totally shutdown for an
extended period (indeed, when that document was published,
Badami was turned off). The oil has a high percentage of wax
and is very difficult to pump.

ANWR development could create 736,000 new jobs

Those numbers have been totally discredited; it was an invalid
study. It has been demonstrated that the actual number of jobs
would be, at most, about 1/10th of that number.

Only a small percentage of Coastal plain, about 2,000
acres, would be impacted by oil development;

Totally bogus claim... The 2000 acre figure is the "footprint",
which is the amount of land that the North Slope Borough would
be able to levy a property tax on. It includes the area touched
by pipeline supports, but not the area under the pipe, for
example. It includes parts of airports, but not all of it. It
includes the drill pad, and land under a building, but not
roads, not garbage dumps, and not gravel pits. While the
taxible area might be 2000 acres, the *impacted* area would be
nearly the entire 1,500,000 acres of the 1002 Area on the
coastal plain.

The coastal plain is not a pristine wilderness:

Another total joke. I've been there, and let me tell you flat
out that the coastal plain of ANWR is the most pristine
wilderness anywhere it the US today.

That was as
of 1999, and I can't find reliable information that's any newer. Also, it

http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSrep...l/nrgen-25.cfm
http://www.senate.gov/~commerce/hearings/0425mal.PDF

It isn't much newer, but there has been no change since.

doesn't say that the oil STAYS in the US, or what happens to it after it's
refined. However the report does mention that while 876,397 barrels of
Alaskan oil per day were shipped to the West Coast, 236,000 barrels per day
were Exported from the West Coast. So it's possible that there's some
manipulating of figures going on. Alaskan oil can be said to be shipped
"almost entirely to the US West Coast," which is true. Only then it's
exported. Maybe. Finding out what really happens with oil is a pretty
slippery business.

Welllll, that's a bit of wild speculation; and there is nothing
to support the idea. ANS crude is *not* being exported from the
west coast, it is being refined there. We do in fact export
some refined products, but not much. For all practical purposes
it is exactly as described: Alaska crude is shipped to and used
by the West Coast US Domestic market to the tune of virtually
100%.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)