Is there enough oil beneath theArctic National Wildlife RefugeANWR)to help secureAmerica’s energy future PresidentBush certainly thinks so. He has argued that tappingANWR’s oil would help easeCalifornia’s electricity crisis and provide a major boost to the country’s energy independence.But no one knows for sure how much crude oil lies buried beneath the frozen earth, with the last government survey, conducted in 1998, projecting output anywhere from 3 billion to 16 billion barrels.
The oil industry goes with the high end of the range, which could equal as much as 10% of U.S. consumption for as long as six years.By pumping more than 1 million barrels a day from the reserve for the next two to three decades, lobbyists claim, the nation could cut back on imports equivalent to all shipments to the U.S. from SaudiArabi A、Sounds gooD、An oil boom would also mean a multibillion-dollar windfall(意外之才) in tax revenues, royalties (开采权使用费)and leasing fees forAlaska and the Federal Government.Best of all, advocates of drilling say, damage to the environment would be insignificant. "We’ve never had a documented case of an oil rig chasing deer out onto the pack ice," saysAlaska State Representative Scott Ogan. Not so fast, say environmentalists. Sticking to the low end of government estimates, the National ResourcesDefenseCouncil says there may be no more than 3.2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil in the coastal plain ofANWR, a drop in the bucket that would do virtually nothing to easeAmerica’s energy problems.And consumers would wait up to a decade to gain any benefits, because drilling could begin only after much bargaining over leases, environmental permits and regulatory review.As forANWR’s impact on theCalifornia power crisis, environmentalists point out that oil is responsible for only 1% of the Golden State’s electricity output—and just 3% of the nation’s. What do the environmentalists mean by saying "Not so fast"(Line 1 ,Par A、3) A、Tap the oil there more slowly and carefully. B、Think it over how to protect the environment there. C、Never expectANWR to supply enough oil for the country in the near future.D、Don’t expect too optimistic profit and gain.