There are some places that need to be permanently protected and off-limits to resource extraction. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of those places.
Two Alaska Native corporations and a small oil services firm together have applied to do extensive seismic work next winter in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the first move toward development there since Congress voted late last year to open up the pristine wilderness to oil and gas drilling.
But while President Trump, congressional Republicans, the oil industry and Alaskan leaders have been pushing hard to develop the refuge that had been off-limits to petroleum exploration for more than three decades, the Interior Department’s initial response to the consortium’s permit application was scathing.
“This plan is not adequate,” Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service said in a reply to the seismic application, adding that it showed “a lack of applicable details for proper agency review.”
LINK (via: The Washington Post)
