ANWAR is more than 19 million acres. Exploration area is less than 1.5 million
Most of Anwar is as remote and lifeless as the moon. This is the safest, most uninhabitable and remotest place on earth. It does not support wildlife and is environmentally a net zero. The fact that enviro Marxists have kept it out of production for 50 years is proof positive that Russia and China have infiltrated our government and are in control of the leftist culture.
See #13 - the actual drilling area is only about 2,000 acres.
I read about this in Field & Stream in the December ‘03 or ‘04 issue. It was a 30-page article, very well done and it tried to take a neutral P.O.V. (because its readers both like the environment to be natural AND use boats, big SUVs, etc. The upshot from the article was that there was a crapload of oil there (and that at $30/bbl. - reserves go up as the price increases, because more is economically recoverable), and the effect on the environment would be miniscule (even 13-14 years ago, and the technology has only gotten better/safer).