Critics protest proposed drilling in Alaska’s Arctic refuge
By DAN JOLING
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Natives who rely on caribou for subsistence are lining up in the state’s largest city to protest federal plans for petroleum development in a wilderness area.
Environmental groups and other opponents are expected at a Bureau of Land Management meeting in Anchorage on Monday. The agency plans to discuss a draft environmental review on drilling within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Congress in December 2017 approved a tax bill that requires an oil and gas lease sale in the refuge to raise revenue for a tax cut backed by President Donald Trump.
Critics say the tax bill overstated what the federal government will earn from least sales. They say development will create a web of roads and pipelines and could harm the Porcupine Caribou Herd.