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| Oil on Ice |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 59 |
| Public Rating: 8.33 (9 votes) |
Director: Bo Boudart and Dale Djerassi |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Documentary |
Year: 2004 |
| Writer(s): Stephen Most |
| Distributor: Oilonice.org |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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Oil on Ice, a timely documentary directed by Bo Boudart and Dale Djerassi and narrated by Peter Coyote, examines the struggle to safeguard the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a pristine19-million acre refuge located in northeast Alaska, from oil exploration and development by Native Americans and progressive conservationists. The current Bush administration, following the pattern set by the first Bush administration in 1989-90, has attempted to obtain congressional authorization for oil exploration and development in ANWR, without success. The recent re-election of George W. Bush, however, means that a Republican-controlled Congress will revisit opening ANWR to oil development in the near term.
ANWR was closed to oil exploration by the Eisenhower administration, but one 1.5 million acre area located along the coastal plain, the 1002 area (so-called for the relevant section of the congressional bill that authorized the creation of the refuge) can be opened for exploration and development, but only by congressional action. The 1002 area is probably the most oil-rich area still remaining in Alaska, promising to add 3.2 billion barrels of oil to the world oil economy. In the past, oil exploration in Alaska has led to development in the Proudhoe Bay and Prince William Sound areas and to the Alaska Transatlantic Oil Pipeline. Oil exploration in Alaska led to a booming economy over the last three decades, with oil exploration and construction companies hiring local workers to work on oil pipelines, refineries, or infrastructure. But a successful economy has had deleterious effects on local ecosystems, including the migratory patterns of marine mammals, birds, and wildlife, the long-term effects of oil spills (such as the Exxon Valdez in 1989), or on the subsistence lifestyles and cultures of Native Americans.
ANWR is home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, including caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, migratory birds, and many other species. Some have called it “America's Serengeti.” Some have proposed an international park, consisting of ANWR and two cross-border parks in Canada. The 1002 area is key, however, not just for the numbers and variety of species, but for migratory caribou, which use a large portion of the 1002 to feed and reproduce during the short summer months. While oil exploration and development is likely to negatively impact caribou migratory patterns (and therefore population levels), the local the Gwich'in Athabascan Indians depend on the migrating caribou population for subsistence. Their centuries-old culture has developed in line with their close relationship to the caribou.
Oil on Ice ambitiously explores the related issues of fuel use, efficiency, and conservation, with mixed results, primarily due to a brief running time. As the narrator informs us, ANWR oil exploration, at best, will result in 3.2 billion barrels of oil. Unmentioned by the filmmakers, however, is that 3.2 billion barrels of oil would satisfy America's oil needs for only 200 days. On balance, are the long-term environmental impacts worth the short-term benefits that will accrue from oil exploration and development in ANWR? Under this formulation, is answer is likely a negative one. The filmmakers also raise a related issue curiously left unmentioned in the mainstream media in reports on the refuge: that oil exploration in ANWR, while touted as a public benefit by lobbyists for the oil industry and Republican politicians, will, in fact, result in a substantial private benefit for oil companies, none of whom would be obligated by Congress to sell Alaskan oil to American consumers. Oil companies would be able to sell Alaskan oil on the world oil markets, guided only by financial self-interest. If the Republican-controlled Congress was serious about developing ANWR to benefit the public interest, any legislation to open ANWR to the oil industry would include guarantees that the oil would be sold and used exclusively by American consumers, at or near cost.
The filmmakers also briefly examine the complex issues related to fuel efficiency standards (which have been uniformly opposed by the major U.S. automobile manufacturers), and the need for alternative fuel research and development. The filmmakers optimistically point to the development of hybrid vehicles (as well as the more experimental fuel cell research) as the direction needed to weaken American dependence on foreign oil. The additional benefit, of course, would be to the environment (i.e., “global warming”), since automobiles generate nearly one-half of all hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere. The filmmakers, however, clearly emphasize that our best efforts to find alternative, renewable fuel supplies have been compromised by the economic and political power wielded by the major oil companies and their lobbyists in Washington, D.C. Oil on Ice, then, points to a larger, systemic problem, one that allows lobbyists, and the money and power they represent, to influence, and in may cases, dictate, energy policy, often to the detriment to the public interest. Highly recommended, especially for progressives and conservationists.
© Mel Valentin, 14th November, 2004
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