Take a million-and-a-half acres of protected federal land. Add a pristine wilderness with ardent defenders. Top it off with soaring oil prices and the prospect of billions of barrels of oil beneath the frozen plain.
What do you get? Anwar — the best little acronym for a big political fight this side of the Pacific. A new Senate bill proposing oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has sparked a cacophony of debate, with environmentalists crying foul and some politicians insisting that it’s the best option for alleviating America’s energy crisis. Meanwhile, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman is pushing a competing bill that would forever guard the coastal plain’s frozen splendor.
Some say the oil reserve located there is hardly big enough to risk disturbing one of nature’s last undefiled strongholds. But the majority of Alaskans support the move to open the land to drilling. So if they don’t mind, why should anybody else? We’re taking it to the tundra and exploring the truth about Anwar.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Richard Kennelly, Energy Projects Director of the Conservation Law Foundation
Roger Herrera, Washington DC Coordinator for Arctic Power
Debbie Miller, author of “Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge”
Lon Sonsalla, Mayor of the village of Kaktovik, Alaska
and Ken Bird, Project Chief of Alaska Petroleum Studies Project.