What are possible opportunity costs of opening Arctic lands to private extraction of as-yet unavailable resource endowments? Solution Possible opportunity costs are as below: Environment protection: If the Arctic land is in use for private extraction, the environment will be in danger because of melting ice. Therefore, the environment protection benefit is the opportunity cost of private extraction. Eco system: Private extraction can hamper the eco system, since the animal life will be affected. Therefore, the benefit out of the eco system is the opportunity cost of private extraction..