New management plan heats up fight over oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Fight over Arctic wildlife refuge heats up

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The fight over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is heating up over the possibility that a new management plan could put the refuge and its billions of barrels of crude off-limits for good.

At issue is the refuge’s coastal plain. It’s been a battleground for decades between environmentalists who don’t want drilling and oil companies and Alaska officials that see a large, untapped resource.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is updating its plan for the refuge and is now taking public testimony. A spokesman for the agency has said the agency might recommend the coastal plain be designated as wilderness.

A public hearing was scheduled Tuesday afternoon in Anchorage, with hearings planned for Fairbanks and Kaktovik (kak-TOH’-vik) this week and next.