According to DoE analysis, drilling ANWR will reduce the cost of oil by 75 cents per barrel, once it comes online a decade or more from now. This would be a waste of money that could be much better spent developing alternative energy infrastructure and implementing real conservation and demand reduction measures.

How is drilling for our own oil in our own land a waste of money? We need to be fuel independent. While I agree we should look for alternate methods of fueling ourselves, there’s no reasonable explanation as to why we cannot drill for oil here too.

Drilling for oil in ANWR is a waste of money because that money could be invested into policies that actually move us in the direction of energy independence rather than perpetuating dependence on a finite resource. According to the May 2008 EIA Analysis of Crude oil production in ANWR, even at peak production the 10-02 area will only supply 780,000 barrels per day. Although this seems high, it is small relative to the average U.S. consumption of 20.8 million barrels per day (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html). Furthermore, this peak is expected to be short-lived, lasting only from 2027 to 2030. And, as Xathras said, the oil would not even begin to flow until 2018.

It is also important to note that Big Oil already has access to a HUGE amount of oil that it is not using. See http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes
for details.

With rising fuel prices, we have the opportunity to make a transition toward conservation and non-fossil fuel energy. Now is the time to focus on energy efficiency as well as wind, hydroelectric, solar, geothermal and other long-term energy sources as opposed to revisiting oil supplies that will sooner or later run out.