From Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush: Presidential Policies and Involvement in the Debate Over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1977-2009
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
From Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush: Presidential Policies and Involvement in the Debate over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1977-2009 By Gisle Holsbø Eriksen A Thesis Presented to The Department of Literature, Area Studies, and European Languages -North American Area Studies- Faculty of Humanities In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the MA Degree UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Fall 2009 Acknowledgements As regards the writing of this thesis, I would like to thank Associate Professor David C. Mauk for his consistent guidance, challenging discussions and feedback. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Barbara Clare Dalton whose reviews of the thesis proved invaluable. i Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... I CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1.1. THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE : ARCTIC WILDLIFE , ENVIRONMENT , AND PETROLEUM RESOURCES ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES AND ENERGY CHALLENGES .............................................................. 2 1.3. MATERIALS AND BACKGROUND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 6 1.4. METHOD AND THEORETICAL MODELS ......................................................................................... 9 1.5. OUTLINE ...................................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO: THE DEEP CONTEXT OF THE ANWR DEBATE ......................... 14 2.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 14 2.2. INDIGENOUS VIEWS ON OIL DEVELOPMENT IN THE ANWR ...................................................... 14 2.3. OIL , POLITICS , AND SOCIETY IN ALASKA ................................................................................... 19 2.4. CONGRESS AND PARTISAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ............................................................. 23 2.5. THE ANWR, NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS , AND OIL COMPANIES ............................ 29 2.6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER THREE: JIMMY CARTER AND RONALD REAGAN, 1977-1989 ............ 35 3.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 35 3.2. PRESIDENT CARTER : THE ENERGY CRISIS , AND THE FIRST ACTIONS ON THE ALASKA LANDS BILL ................................................................................................................................................... 35 3.3. DECEMBER 1978: THE ANTIQUITIES ACT ................................................................................... 38 3.4. FINAL APPROVAL OF THE ANILCA ............................................................................................ 43 3.5. PRESIDENT REAGAN : RIGHT WING SHIFT ................................................................................... 48 3.6. ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE , ALASKA , COASTAL PLAIN RESOURCE ASSESSMENT ... 52 3.7. REAGAN : WEAK SUSTAINABILITY , DOMINANT SOCIAL PARADIGM THEORY , AND PASSIVE - POSITIVE CHARACTER ....................................................................................................................... 54 3.8. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER FOUR: GEORGE H. W. BUSH AND BILL CLINTON, 1989-2001 ............ 59 4.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 59 4.2. PRESIDENT GEORGE H. W. BUSH : ANWR POLICY .................................................................... 59 4.3. THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL .................................................................................................. 61 ii 4.4. 1990’ S ENVIRONMENTALISM : THE CLEAN AIR ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1990 AND THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF ......................................................................................................................... 63 4.5. THE ANWR AND THE GULF WAR , THE NATIONAL ENERGY STRATEGY , AND THE ECONOMY .. 64 4.6. PRESIDENT CLINTON : APPOINTMENTS AND INITIAL POLICY DEVELOPMENTS .......................... 69 4.7. BUDGET VETO —CLINTON ’S VIEWS ON FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY .......................................... 73 4.8. THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY REVIVAL ................................................................................... 77 4.9. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER FIVE: GEORGE W. BUSH, 2001-2009 ........................................................... 83 5.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 83 5.2. THE ANWR AND THE TEXAS MINDSET ...................................................................................... 83 5.3. THE 2001 NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY ....................................................................................... 86 5.4. CONGRESS AND THE ANWR, 2001-2002: LEGISLATIVE MOVEMENTS , HISTORICAL ENERGY CONTEXT AND THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ................................................................................... 90 5.5. THE ANWR AND PRESIDENT BUSH ’S LEGISLATIVE STYLE ....................................................... 96 5.6. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY ........................................................... 97 5.7. CONGRESS AND THE ANWR, 2003-2008: THE 2005 ENERGY ACT , THE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS OF 2005, AND THE DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT OF 2006 .......................................................... 101 5.8. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY OVER ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION : LAST -MINUTE DECISIONS ...... 105 5.9. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 107 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION........................................................................................ 109 6.1. PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND INFLUENCE ................................................................................... 109 6.2. MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS ......................................................................................................... 113 6.3. USEFULNESS OF PRESIDENTIAL MODELS AND THEORIES ......................................................... 116 6.4. THE ANWR AND LARGER , ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY -RELATED POLICY THEMES ........ 118 NOTES ................................................................................................................................... 123 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................... 168 iii Chapter One: Introduction 1.1. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Arctic Wildlife, Environment, and Petroleum Resources The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), located in the Northeastern corner of Alaska, has for the last three decades been the focus of one of the most contentious land-use conflicts in the United States. Encompassing 19.3 million acres, it is the largest unit in the National Wildlife Refuge System, equivalent in size to the state of South Carolina. From the interior highlands in the south to the Arctic coastal plain in the north, it spans across five undisturbed ecological regions each harboring unique and abundant Arctic wildlife including multiple caribou herds, several varieties of bear, Dall sheep, muskox, moose, wolf, and numerous local and migratory bird species. Furthermore, the combined geographical vastness and the pristine condition of the flora and fauna, offers wilderness opportunities largely lost in the continental states of the twenty-first century. It is frequently referred to as “America’s Serengeti.” Aside from the value associated with unparalleled Arctic ecosystems and teeming wildlife, the North Slope of Alaska has—since the 1960s—been one of America’s primary energy regions. During the latter half of the 1980s, the ANWR petroleum output was in excess of 2 million barrels per day, accounting for 25% of the total domestic production. Production at Prudhoe Bay—the largest oil field ever discovered in North America—has, since then, been declining. In 2005, the North Slope accounted for 17% of national extraction. 1 According to assessments presented by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), the solution to the downward trend could lie within the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the ANWR. In 2005, the USGS calculated that the coastal plain, including adjacent State waters, hold approximately 10 billion barrels of oil. Availability depends on the oil price, but the USGS points out that at a suggested price of $50 per barrel, 90% of the volume is economically recoverable. 2 Thus, with legitimate prospects of 10 billion barrels of oil, the coastal plain could very well be one of the largest remaining oil fields in the United States. Owing to the magnitude of potential oil resources, the ecological significance of the refuge,