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Interior Department Releases Numbers on How Long
Each State Would Run with ANWR's Energy
WASHINGTON - Based on mean United States Geological Survey estimates of oil potential in ANWR - 10.4 billion barrels* - and petroleum consumption for each state using 1999 figures from the Energy Information Agency, the U.S. Interior Department today released calculations on the number of years that ANWR could supply oil for each state.
"ANWR is America's largest onshore prospect for oil and gas," U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. "ANWR's reserves, at the mean estimate, will provide 10.4 billion barrels of oil, nearly 40 times the amount imported from Iraq in 2001."
"Based on the mean calculations, ANWR would supply every drop of petroleum for the entire state of Arkansas for 144 years, Missouri for 71 years or South Dakota for 479 years."
"ANWR will require the toughest environmental standards ever imposed," continued Secretary Norton. "Exploration will be limited to no more than 2,000 acres out of ANWR's 19 million acres. Exploration will be limited to the winter months, between November and May, to protect breeding and wildlife migration patterns. Ice roads and ice airstrips, which melt away in the spring, will protect wildlife," Secretary Norton concluded.
*10.4 billion barrels of oil is the mean USGS estimate for technically recoverable conventional oil in the 1002 Area of ANWR, including federal lands, native-owned private lands and state-regulated waters.
Estimates ANWR Oil By State
-DOI-
U.S. Department of the Interior | 