Arctic refuge fate may hinge on presidential result

The fate of part of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a major campaign issue dividing George W. Bush and Al Gore

November 16, 2000
Web posted at: 12:18 PM EST (1718 GMT)

In this story: Oil boosters optimistic if Bush wins Not everyone favors oil development RELATED STORIES, SITES

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -- The fate of a stretch of tundra in northeastern Alaska hangs in the balance as the final presidential votes are tallied a continent away.

Some say what is at stake in the election being decided in Florida is the opportunity to tap into a potentially huge reservoir of oil and the riches it will bring; others say a priceless wilderness is on the line.

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Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore have diametrically opposed plans for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska.

Bush wants to allow oil drilling in a 1.5-million-acre section of the 19-million-acre wildlife refuge, which industry advocates say could hold a Prudhoe Bay-sized bonanza. Gore wants to preserve the area, the calving grounds for the huge Porcupine caribou herd and an important habitat for other Arctic wildlife.

The majority of Alaskans side with Bush, a onetime oil industry executive, on the question of the Arctic refuge, so his current lead in Florida -- though subject to change -- has cheered development advocates here.

"I think it's better to be ahead than behind," said Cam Toohey, executive director of Arctic Power, an Anchorage-based group pushing for oil development in the refuge.

If Bush becomes president, prospects are bright for granting oil companies permission to drill in the wildlife refuge, Toohey said. "It's a year of working to open ANWR, not a year of protecting it."

Ken Freeman, executive director of the Resource Development Council, also said he was optimistic about ANWR oil development if Republicans hold control of the White House and Congress.

"There's still a lot of hard work ahead of us, but I'm optimistic that with a Republican president and Republicans controlling both houses of Congress we're closer to realizing development in the coastal plain than we have been for some time," Freeman said.

Congress in 1995 did pass legislation to pry the refuge open to oil drilling. Republicans had newly assumed control and Alaska's all-Republican delegation was in a position of power. But President Clinton vetoed the bill and the issue was part of a standoff that caused the federal government shutdown.

Popular sentiment in Alaska, a state heavily dependent on dollars from Arctic oil, weighs in favor of ANWR drilling. Oil royalties, taxes and fees pay for two-thirds of the state's general operations. Thanks to the North Slope oil wealth, there is no state personal income tax or state sales tax, and the gasoline tax is the nation's lowest.

Rather than paying taxes, in fact, nearly every Alaska man, woman and child gets an annual check from a state-owned endowment funded with oil wealth. This year's Alaska Permanent Fund dividend was $1,963.86 a person.

The issue of ANWR oil development is important enough to Alaskans that it drove many Democrats away from environmentalist Gore into Bush's camp, said Mano Frey, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO and a Democratic activist.

"I'm not going to say who I voted for," he said. "But there was probably a lot of non-Gore support in Alaska."

The contested area is a calving ground for the large Porcupine caribou herd

In the end, Bush beat Gore here by a 2-to-1 margin, but the Green Party's Ralph Nader captured 10 percent, his best showing in any state, making it clear that not everyone in Alaska wants to see oil rigs on the refuge's coastal plain.

Environmentalists will continue to seek passage of a bill that would give wilderness status to the coastal plain, said Arthur Hussey, executive director of the Fairbanks-based Northern Alaska Environmental Center. "I think that we'll continue to work on developing co-sponsors for a bill that would offer permanent protection for the refuge," he said.

Months ago, conservation forces launched a drive to convince Clinton to use his last weeks in office to declare the refuge's coastal plain a national monument. Among those seeking this step were former President Jimmy Carter and the Gwich'in Steering Committe, representing the Gwich'in Athabaskan Indians of northeast Alaska and northwestern Canada.

Clinton could assure his environmental legacy with such a declaration, said Jonathan Solomon, a Gwich'in elder from the village of Fort Yukon and chairman of the steering committee. "He can protect wildlife and humans at the same time."

Whether it would be legal to designate the coastal plain as a preserved monument is a matter of debate.

Development supporters say it would violate the 1980 Alaska National Interest Conservation Act, but Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat who supports oil drilling in the refuge, believes there will be no monument declaration, his press secretary said.

"The indication we have gotten from the White House is they do not intend to make any announcement regarding monument status for ANWR. The state would use all means possible to oppose that, including going to court," spokesman Bob King said.

But Toohey said he expected a high-profile parting shot from Clinton, no matter who wins in the Florida presidential recount. "I believe that there'll be a monument declared, no matter what," he said.

"It's a matter of what you feel is driving a president who's looking for an environmental legacy. Can you name any of the last 10 monuments that have been declared? You make one in Alaska and all of a sudden everybody's familiar with it."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Resource Development Council
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
Alaska AFL-CIO
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

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