ABSTRACT
Advocates of industrial development in Alaska may often be found arguing that it is possible for mineral extraction - and, more specifically, oil and gas development - to be simultaneously efficient, environmentally benign, beneficial to all affected populations, and equitable in its consequences. Intelligent decision making about oil and gas development in environmentally sensitive areas requires a knowledge of just how destructive such development is likely to be. Policy debate about the risks of pollution often centers around spectacular and highly visible events such as blowouts. But chronic discharges associated with normal offshore operations may in fact present far greater potential for environmental degradation, though lacking in appeal as media events. In sura: oil development can be environmentally deleterious, but irreversible destruction of ecosystems is unlikely, with the possible exception of those in the Arctic. A glance at a geological map of Alaska's continental shelf reveals a number of potential hydrocarbon-bearing sedimentary basins.
