Tournament: NCFA | Round: 1 | Opponent: Cal Poly SLO CK | Judge: Jared
PLAN: The United States Federal Government should substantially reduce restrictions on crude oil extraction from the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf.

Contention 1: Leadership
Offshore drilling key to US Arctic leadership
Cohen and Altman 11 Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy at the Heritage Foundation, Anton Altman is a research volunteer at The Heritage Foundation, August 16, 2011, “Russia’s Arctic Claims: Neither LOST nor Forgotten”, http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/16/russias-arctic-claims-neither-lost-nor-forgotten/
Moscow has an unquestionable head start....to access polar waters and the Arctic Ocean bed.

Arctic drilling is critical to retain global U.S. primacy
Hobson ’12 - Energy and Environmental Correspondent for the National Journal
White House candidates for polar summit, Iceland president tells Alaskans, Margaret Kriz Hobson, August 27, 2012, Warrant Cites Rubenstein – Co-Founder of Carlyle Group and Energy, Politics and Economics Expert, www.eenews.net; and, http://www.arcticimperative.com/?page_id=2078
Grimsson noted that despite the increased international...without being the leader of the Arctic.”

That’s necessary to prevent Arctic warfare
Borgerson 10 SCOTT G. BORGERSON is International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, April 2008, “Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming”, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus

Risk of Arctic conflict high
Tassinari 12 Fabrizio Tassinari is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and the Head of Foreign Policy and EU Studies at the Danish Institute for International Studies, September 7, 2012, “Avoiding a Scramble for the High North”, http://blog.gmfus.org/2012/09/07/avoiding-a-scramble-for-the-high-north/
The geopolitics of the Arctic are stuck in a paradox...hard to conjure up the prospect of an Arctic race building up.

Goes nuclear
Wallace and Staples 10 Michael Wallace is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia; Steven Staples is President of the Rideau Institute in Ottawa, March 2010, “Ridding the Arctic of Nuclear Weapons A Task Long Overdue”, http://www.arcticsecurity.org/docs/arctic-nuclear-report-web.pdf
The fact is, the Arctic is becoming a zone..of the Arctic because of climate change.” 

The Arctic will be the next area of great power conflict---oil production results in investments that prevent escalation
Talmadge 12 (Eric – AP, Huffington Post, “Arctic Climate Change Opening Region To New Military Activity’, 4/16, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/16/arctic-climate-change-military-activity_n_1427565.html)
To the world's military leaders...U.S. remains ill-equipped for large-scale Arctic missions

Hegemony prevents extinction
Barnett 11 (Thomas P.M., Former Senior Strategic Researcher and Professor in the Warfare Analysis and Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, U.S. Naval War College American military geostrategist and Chief Analyst at Wikistrat., worked as the Assistant for Strategic Futures in the Office of Force Transformation in the Department of Defense, “The New Rules: Leadership Fatigue Puts U.S., and Globalization, at Crossroads,” March 7 http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/8099/the-new-rules-leadership-fatigue-puts-u-s-and-globalization-at-crossroads)
Events in Libya are a further reminder for Americans..faced such a fluid structure, we would do well to keep U.S. power, in all of its forms, 

CONTENTION 2:  ECONOMY
The economy’s on the brink---2013’s key
Tverberg 1-8, ’12 - Editor @ the Oil Drum
Why 2013 Will End in a Severe Recession, Gail Tverberg, Tue, 08 January 2013
http://oilprice.com/Finance/the-Economy/Why-2013-will-End-in-a-Severe-Recession.html

We have been hearing a lot about escaping the fiscal cliff, but our problem isn’t solved...way of permanently reducing oil prices, high oil prices can be expected to cause a long-term drag on economic growth.

US is key to the global economy
Caploe 9 David, CEO of the Singapore-incorporated American Centre for Applied Liberal Arts and Humanities in Asia., “Focus still on America to lead global recovery”, April 7, The Strait Times, lexis
IN THE aftermath of the G-20 summit, most observers seem...and it is going to have to be solved there too.

Global economic crisis causes nuclear war
Cesare Merlini 11, nonresident senior fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Italian Institute for International Affairs, May 2011, “A Post-Secular World?”, Survival, Vol. 53, No. 2
Two neatly opposed scenarios for the future...converging with secular absolutes such as unbridled nationalism.

Statistic prove – economic downturn is linked with crises their defense doesn’t apply
Royal 10 Jedediah, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense, “Economic Integration, Economic Signaling and the Problem of Economic Crises,” in Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith and Brauer, p. 213-215
Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline...economic decline with external conflict at systemic, dyadic and national levels

Plan generates massive economic benefits---job growth, deficit reduction and ripple effect in the short-term
Mills 12 Mark, member of the advisory council of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University and serves on the board of directors of the Marshall Institute, 7/9, “Could the United States Become the World’s Energy-Export Powerhouse?”, http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/press_release_pgi_01.pdf
Unleashing 20 billion barrels of cumulative...near-term economic growth in North America and a beneficial resetting of energy geopolitics.

Now is the time - Jobs are key to an economic recovery consumer confidence is up now
Post 13 (Paul, Janurary 11, 2013, “Experts: Economy slowly healing but Job are key to recovery” http://saratogian.com/articles/2013/01/11/news/doc50f0cc12ac929020135797.txt?viewmode=default) BAL
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Jobs and consumer...so I think we can make it through another year,” Keith said.

Deficit reduction’s key to prevent economic collapse
Mauldin 11 John, President of Business Marketing Group and President of Millennium Wave Advisors, LLC (MWA) which is an investment advisory firm registered with multiple states,
Business Insider, "We Need To Cut The Deficit Right Now -- And Doing It Is Going To Clobber The Economy", May 7, articles.businessinsider.com/2011-05-07/news/29964201_1_endgame-spain-enemies-list/4
Then there is the crisis scenario...The prospect does not make me happy at all, but we have made bad choices as a country for decades, and now we have to pay the price.

Independently, removing oil restrictions ensures long-term growth and revitalizes the shipbuilding industries
Mason 11 Joseph, Senior Fellow, The Wharton School, Louisiana State University Endowed Chair of Banking and nationally-renowned economist, “House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Hearing; Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs Legislative Hearing on H.R. 306, H.R. 588, S. 266 and H.R. 285”, 4/6, Lexis
Apart from national energy concerns,...in new U.S. federal tax income.

Commercial shipbuilding’s key to naval power
NLUS 12 Navy League of the United States, “America’s Maritime Industry The foundation of American seapower”, 2012,  http://www.navyleague.org/files/americas-maritime-industry.pdf, Date Verification – http://gsship.org/industry-links/
Defense Industrial Base: Shipbuilding...They are unmatched in capability, but must maintain that lead. 13

Naval power solves nuclear war
Conway et al 7 James – General, US Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gary Roughead – Admiral, U.S. navy, Chief of Naval Operations, Thad Allen – Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commandant of the Coast Guard, A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, p. http://www.navy.mil/maritime/MaritimeStrategy.pdf
No other disruption is as potentially...enable extended campaigns ashore.

Now is key---industry collapse causes South China Sea conflict
Crospey 12 Dr. Seth – Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, Former Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy, ““The U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Plan: Assumptions and Associated Risks to National Security”, Statement before the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations U.S. House of Representatives, 4/18, http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SethCropsey~-~-USNavyShipbuildingPlan~-~-Testimony041812.pdf
If the Navy’s assumption is mistaken that current political...would benefit for the remainder of this century. Thank you. 

That’s the most likely scenario for US-China war
Glaser 12 Bonnie S., Senior Fellow – Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Armed Clash in the South China Sea,” CFR, April, http://www.cfr.org/east-asia/armed-clash-south-china-sea/p27883
The risk of conflict in the South China..strategic competition would likely make managing such a crisis more difficult

Extinction
Lieven 12 Anatol, Professor in the War Studies Department – King’s College (London), Senior Fellow – New America Foundation (Washington), “Avoiding US-China War,” New York Times, 6-12, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/opinion/avoiding-a-us-china-war.html
Relations between the United States...U.S. overstretch is already apparent — for example in Washington’s neglect of the crumbling states of Central America.

CONTENTION III: SOLVENCY
Obama is expanding access now but the current plan is too restrictive
Reuters 12 June 28, 2012, “U.S. unveils final drilling plan, limits Arctic sales”, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-usa-drilling-offshore-idUSBRE85R1MJ20120628?feedType=RSSandfeedName=everythingandvirtualBrandChannel=11563
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. oil companies...chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Arctic drilling’s inevitable---the US needs to take the lead
O’Keefe 12 William O'Keefe is CEO at the George C. Marshall Institute, a think tank that promotes better use of science in public policy, July 23, 2012, “Decision Isn't America's Alone To Make”, http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2012/07/is-arctic-oil-drilling-ready-f.php
The decision on whether Arctic oil drilling...The only open question is by whom

US leadership’s key---failure to drill in federal Alaskan waters causes other countries to fill in
Sullivan 12 Dan Sullivan, a former state attorney general, is the commissioner of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, July 20, 2012, “It's time to develop our Arctic resources”, http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/opinion/sullivan-arctic-drilling/index.html
The United States is on the verge of an..strong leader in responsible energy development.