The 19.6-million acre refuge is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife | Photo: Reuters FILE
“It’s outrageous that the oil lobby and their allies in Congress are trying to destroy the crown jewel of America’s wildlife refuge system.”
Late Saturday the United States Senate passed a Bill that will allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) – an area which has been protected since 1960.
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Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, managed to get a narrow 52-48 vote for the Bill – a part of the tax reform legislation – to pass.
The 19.6-million acre refuge is located in northeastern Alaska and is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife, but also billions of barrels of crude oil underground.
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Exposing the Big Game 
I really can’t believe this. I blame all the politicians on any side – they had decades to protect this place from the Murkowskis (what an anti-environmental pedigree!) and others, Ron Bishop in UT who has more destruction prepared. I blame everyone with a gas-guzzling SUV and pickup truck, who let their engines idle while they blab on their cell phones…..I hope that something can be done to stop this.
Of course they did. They’ve been trying to get in there for years.
…Ever since it became a refuge for wildlife.
♫How long…has this been goin’ on?♪
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,98984,00.html
“Earlier this week, the bill hit a procedural bump due to some arcane legislative rules that appeared to make it illegal to wrap the ANWR provision into the tax overhaul. Those who oppose drilling in the refuge saw it as a potential way to kill the provision, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)—a supporter of drilling in the coastal plain—said she did not see it as a problem. “We will be able to resolve all this,” Murkowski said. “I am not concerned.””
I don’t know if this ‘procedural bump’ has been addressed or not:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01122017/tax-bill-gop-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling-anwr-murkowski-curbelo-republican-opposition
That is a really good article in Time. So most people oppose drilling in ANWR. Most people oppose wolf hunting and trophy hunting too. And they both continue, full speed ahead.
The only thing many conservatives, now in control of Congress and the White House, care about is growth, development, and extraction. Wilderness and wildlife and old growth forests are nothing but resources. They have a vandal mentality.
Trump is taking lands in Utah because, among other things, ranchers want more grazing land.
This is one reason animal and environmental advocates give up. They work to save lives and habitats only to have the next group elected overturn the victories.
Time to stick my head in the oven.