The geologic community believes that the Coastal Plain of the ANWR could embody the highest petroleum capability onshore area that has up till now been explored in North America. The current oil production in the United States has increasingly declined since 1985 where it was about 9 million barrels per day compared to about 6.6 million barrels in 1995, and it is projected to be less than 5 million in 2010. Therefore, many energy researchers feel that the Coastal Plain area is vital to oil production for the United States.

However, researchers have found that decreased caribou calving within a 2.5-mile zone of pipelines and roads of other oil-field complexes in areas near the Coastal Plains shows that the extent of avoidance greatly exceeds the impact that was originally thought that oil fields would have on the wildlife in and around the fields. Since exploration and drilling for oil has began in the North Slope of the Coastal Plains, bowhead whales have traveled a different route in their fall migration to avoid the noise of seismic exploration activities, although the exact extent of their detour is not known. More people on the North Slope has meant more refuse for scavenging bears, foxes, ravens, and gulls, which has boosted their numbers. However, these animals also prey on the eggs and nestlings of many bird species, some of which are listed as endangered or threatened. Moreover, it is not known to what extent the excavation, mining, and construction will have on the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The one-hundred acre area of the Alpine oilfield west of Prudhoe Bay, an area of oil discovered and mined in 1967 to the present, required a one-hundred-and-fifty acre gravel mine and three miles of road. The area of the North Slope of the ANWR would allow for twenty oil fields of the same size caliber to be drilled and mined.

 

On March 16, 2006 workers began cleaning up more than 200,000 gallons of oil that leaked the week before in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It's the largest oil spill ever on Alaska's North Slope, and it has added fuel to debates over the wisdom of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At least one report from an industry expert has indicated that up to 798,000 gallons could be unaccounted for, possibly making this the largest crude oil spill in the history of the North Slope, and second in Alaska only to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. With events such as these the United States must question the worth of drilling in environments as delicate as that of the North Slope. Already without oil being drilled to the extent that the government would like, there are accidents that make a person question the benefits of oil endeavors.