在北极国家野生动物保护区进行钻探离现实又近了一步

在北极国家野生动物保护区进行钻探离现实又近了一步

The prospect of drilling for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is looming ever closer with the Interior Department's release of its final environmental impact statement, which explains how and where oil companies can drill for oil.

随着美国内政部发布其最终环境影响声明，在阿拉斯加的北极国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)开采石油和天然气的前景越来越近。这份声明解释了石油公司如何以及在哪里开采石油。

Photo: Alan D. Wilson [CC by 3.0]/Wikimedia Commons

The Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), will establish two area-wide leasing sales, not less than 400,000 acres each, along the Coastal Plain of ANWR. The move also authorizes up to 2,000 acres for surface facilities, according to the release. Exactly how much acreage will be up for lease has not yet been announced.

内政部长将通过土地管理局(BLM)在ANWR的沿海平原上建立两个不少于40万英亩的区域租赁销售。据新闻稿称，这一举措还授权多达2000英亩的土地用于地面设施。具体有多少土地可供出租还没有公布。

Interior Department officials said options in the plan would protect caribou — which use the area as a calving ground — polar bears and migratory birds, not to mention the native populations that depend on this wildlife.

美国内政部官员表示，该计划中的选项将保护北美驯鹿、北极熊和候鸟，更不用说依赖这种野生动物的本土种群了。北美驯鹿将该地区作为产犊地。

Pools of tundra water just beginning to freeze for the winter in the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge. (Photo: Troutnut/Shutterstock)

The draft followed an eight-month review process by BLM to determine the environmental impact of leasing the land for drilling. The draft was the "personal responsibility" of Joe Balash, a top official at the Department of the Interior who has since resigned to work for a Papua New Guinea oil company in Alaska.

在此之前，BLM进行了8个月的审查，以确定租赁钻井用地对环境的影响。这份草案是内政部高级官员乔•巴拉什(Joe Balash)的“个人责任”。巴拉什后来辞职，为阿拉斯加的一家巴布亚新几内亚石油公司工作。

Congress agreed the Department of the Interior could hold a lease sale of up to 800,00 acres of ANWR within the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office projected that the sale of land could generate almost $900 million for the federal government. This revenue is seen as vital because it would pay for tax cuts created by the Republicans' overhaul of the tax system.

国会同意，内政部可以在未来10年内租赁出售多达8万英亩的ANWR。国会预算办公室预计，出售土地可以为联邦政府带来近9亿美元的收入。这项收入被视为至关重要，因为它将为共和党改革税收体系带来的减税买单。

When would drilling begin?

什么时候开始钻井?

Native American leaders protest the prospect of drilling on the 58th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge outside the U.S. Capitol in December 2018. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Though it's much more likely now, drilling is unlikely for at least a decade.

尽管现在可能性更大，但至少在10年内不太可能进行钻探。

The delay could be due to "required environmental scrutiny and permit reviews — and then the inevitable lawsuits from local communities and environmental groups opposed to any development in that rugged wilderness," point out Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy of Bloomberg.

彭博社的Ari Natter和Jennifer A. Dlouhy指出，推迟开发可能是因为“需要进行环境审查和许可审查，然后不可避免地会有来自当地社区和环保组织的诉讼，他们反对在这片崎岖的荒野上进行任何开发”。

Plans to drill in ANWR have been a priority for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She says drilling will be boon to Alaska and the U.S., and that it will be done in a way that respects the environment.

阿拉斯加共和党参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基(Lisa Murkowski)是参议院能源和自然资源委员会(Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee)主席。她说，钻探将有利于阿拉斯加和美国这将以一种尊重环境的方式来实现。

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) who is against the drilling, argues that "it turns this coastal plane and wildlife refuge into an oil field."

反对钻探的华盛顿州民主党参议员玛丽亚•坎特韦尔(Maria Cantwell)认为，“这会把这架沿海飞机和野生动物保护区变成油田。”

As Bloomberg pointed out in 2017, interest in drilling in ANWR may be not be particularly high given the costs involved in setting up operations in such a remote area. Still, provided decades-old projections are true, the lure of between 4.3 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of oil may be too much for energy companies to ignore.

正如彭博社(Bloomberg)在2017年指出的，考虑到在如此偏远的地区开展业务所涉及的成本，人们对在ANWR钻井的兴趣可能不是特别高。不过，如果几十年前的预测是正确的，那么43亿至118亿桶石油的诱惑可能会让能源公司难以忽视。