PRUDHOE BAY 

Oil and Wildlife Don't Mix: Lessons From the Prudhoe Bay Oilfields

While Big Oil and its pro-drilling advocates in Congress claim that the affects of drilling in the Arctic Refuge would be minimal, one need look just 60 miles west of the Refuge to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields for abundant evidence of the negative impacts of drilling on wildlife and wilderness.

The scope of the Prudhoe Bay oilfields turned what was a pristine wilderness area into one of the world's largest industrial complexes. The massive network now sprawls out over 640,000 acres and can be seen clearly by astronauts from space. The insatiable growth of the field has burgeoned far beyond the scope of the initial Environmental Impact Survey: gravel mines have extracted 400% more gravel, oil companies have drilled 5 times as many wells, roads have extended twice as far, and gravel pads for the facilities have buried three times the area initially predicted. The complex includes 3,898 exploratory wells, 170 drilling pads, 596 miles of road, 1,100 miles of pipeline, 5 docks, housing for 5,000 employees, and 25 production, processing, sea water treatment and power plants.  The enormity of this colossal industrial web clearly undermine drilling proponents' claim that industrial development could be limited

Toxic chemical spills are commonplace at the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. There were thousands of spills during pipeline construction, and an average of just under 400 spills annually have been reported on the North Slope since 1996 (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation spill database 1996-2002). In terms of quantity, 1.3 million gallons of toxic substances were spilled between 1996 and 2000 alone. Roughly 40 different substances, from acid to waste oil to diesel and crude, are commonly spilled during routine operations. Diesel is particularly devastating to plant life; a study of diesel spills in Alaska's arctic found that there were was little vegetation recovery 28 years after a spill.

Accidental spills are only half the story. The industrial complex of Prudhoe Bay annually emits more air pollutants than Washington, D.C., and has permitted total emissions that exceed those of at least six states - this in an area once considered America's last great wilderness. Plumes of Prudhoe Bay pollution can be detected 200 miles away and visibility in the once pristine air has been significantly reduced by a permanent haze. The oil industry saps the arid region of an astounding 27 billion gallons of water a year and releases vast quantities of waste materials in Prudhoe Bay. Much of this is solid industrial waste like used drums and constructions materials, but most is liquid wastes as a result of drilling. Daily, 3,000 cubic yards of drilling waste, 40 million gallons of "produced water" or "toxic brine," 40,000 gallons of liquid oily waste and 300 cubic yards of oil contaminated solid wastes and sludges are generated through drilling operations that are disposed of in open waste pits, are frozen into the permafrost, or injected back under ground with unknown effects.

All Photos: Copyright U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service