Alaska Kuparuk Oil Field Visit
Last year we won a prize in a drawing at the Alaska State Fair, Palmer, a round trip for two and a tour of the the Alaska Kuparuk Oil Fields, sponsored by Conoco/Phillips. We scheduled our tour for July 2006, during the warmest time of the year in this normally dark frigid region. We began the tour by meeting our guide at 5:30 AM at the Conoco/Phillips check in counter at Ted Steven’s International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska.
I have lived in Alaska for thirty years, and never visited the oil fields. The eight people on this private tour were treated with exceptional courtesy and were given a glimpse inside the control station for a field of sixteen oil wells. What struck me immediately was the undisturbed pristine condition of the environment, abundance of wildlife, and immaculate conditions inside and outside of the operations.
From all the hollering and screaming I’ve heard over the last 25 years from the environmental community about the raping of the land and trashing wildlife by the oil companies, I expected to see something that looked like the many pictures posted in the newspapers of the grubby oil fields in Asia. I was shocked by what I saw, and felt completely betrayed by the media. Caribou grazed in herds, and moved effortlessly under the well maintained elevated pipelines. They wandered through the camps, across the air strip and held court in the wetlands surrounding the work stations.
Trumpeter swan were nesting in many of the numerous ponds that dot the area. Geese were leading their newborn fuzzy chicks through the grasses, scratching and plucking for food. Hundreds of geese with baby chicks were along one long pond next to a series of elevated pipelines. The scenery was beautiful, quiet and peaceful. What on earth are these crazed anti gas and oil drilling people thinking???
I’ve traveled a bit, and spent some time in the Orient, visiting India, Thailand, and Malaysia, and saw the belching fires from the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Egypt along the Suez Canal. The pollution in the harbors, creeks, and streams is repugnant in these regions. No environmental control is evident in the air or water, or in industry, or cities, or in the countryside. I have no idea what the heretic impassioned anti development groups in the United States are thinking, when they continue the attacks on our beautiful, clean environment. We have some of the strictest standards to protect our water, land and air, in the world. I can only guess that most of these ignorant, uninformed environmentalists have not traveled the world, nor have they any idea what a mess it is in other countries.
I believe in a clean environment and respecting wildlife, for goodness sake, that’s why I live in Alaska. Please, people, inform yourselves. Don’t be like sheep and follow blindly. Take a bigger look at the world. Try to imagine the United States being totally dependent for oil from some of these countries who are supporting terrorists. If you want to do something to save the planet, start a movement in India, or Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere to clean up the water and air, and protect the wildlife. That would be a noble cause. But, we are doing a good job here in the United States, and the Kuparuk Oil Fields in Alaska are the boilerplate for the rest of world. Thank you Conoco/Phillips for opening my eyes, and for a wonderful tour of the north.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist