Kevin O’Leary, the well-known investor from “Shark Tank,” recently appeared on Fox News to discuss inflation. He also shared his belief that the United States could significantly reduce its national debt by tapping into its abundant gas and oil reserves, much like Norway did in the 1970s.
“We’ve got that golden nugget in the ANWR [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] that we could use to pay down our massive national debt, and that’s just sitting there waiting for policy,” he said. “What tremendous potential, and that’s a proven reserve – the Norwegians did it in the 70s. We could do it today.”
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Norway famously discovered a lot of oil in the North Sea in the 1970s. Instead of spending all the money immediately, the Norwegian government set up a special fund called the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), also known as the Oil Fund. The purpose of this fund was to manage the oil money wisely to benefit both current and future generations by investing in equities, real estate, and renewable energy infrastructure, among other assets.
The GPFG is now one of the largest sovereign wealth funds globally. It’s valued at around 18,730 billion Norwegian kroner (around $1.7 trillion) and owns shares in nearly 9,000 companies worldwide, including giants like Apple, Nestlé, Microsoft, and Samsung.
O’Leary's idea could be a Hail Mary for a country dealing with high inflation and economic uncertainty. Leveraging energy resources in this way could give a significant economic boost without needing higher taxes or major spending cuts. However, for this plan to work, both political parties should back it up and make changes to current energy policies.
Extracting oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
Extracting oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is controversial. It’s one of the last pristine wilderness areas in the U.S., home to various wildlife, including polar bears, caribou, and migratory birds. Drilling for oil could harm these animals and disrupt their habitats. Extracting and using more fossil fuels would contribute to climate change, making it much harder to meet environmental goals.
According to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the Gwich’in people, an Indigenous group living near ANWR, depend on the caribou herds that live in the refuge for their way of life. They fear that oil drilling could threaten these herds and, by extension, their traditional lifestyle and food sources.
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On the other hand, drilling supporters claim extracting oil from ANWR could create jobs, generate revenue, and make the U.S. more energy-independent. And like O’Leary, some think this could be used to bring the national debt under control.
Like many things in America, this issue is also nothing but highly politicized. Many Republicans support drilling for its economic benefits, while many Democrats oppose it because of environmental and climate concerns.
Former President Donald Trump tried to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling. In 2017, his administration passed a law that included a plan to allow drilling in part of ANWR, which had been protected from such activities for decades. In 2020, Trump’s administration moved forward with this plan by approving the opening of over 1.5 million acres of the refuge's coastal plain for oil and gas drilling.
However, when Joe Biden became president, his administration took steps to reverse Trump's actions. In June 2021, they suspended the oil and gas leases that had been issued.
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