Fact sheet: ANWR debate at a glance

The Alaska wildlife refuge is home to thousands of caribou and other animal and plant species.

SUMMARY:

President Bush wants the Senate to approve an energy bill that would authorize oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Many conservationists and preservationists oppose the move, citing threats to wildlife and arguing that the amount of oil obtained by drilling will not be significant enough to warrant possible damage to the area. (Full story)

Alaskans are split on the issue, although the majority support the move. The oil industry buoys the state's economy, providing jobs, education funding and salaries for civil servants.

UPDATE:

The House of Representatives approved the broad energy bill permitting ANWR drilling in August. The bill faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where the Democrats have initiated a filibuster preventing a vote on the bill. (Full story)

Summary Update Key questions Who's who EXTRA INFORMATION Map: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

In a stab at some old-fashioned political horse-trading, Alaska Republican Sens. Frank Murkowski and Ted Stevens have crafting a proposal to use royalties from the lease of the Arctic refuge to pay pension benefits for steel workers, sources say. They hope to convince some Democrats from steel-producing states to support the bill if the proposal is included. (Full story)

GOP leadership aides said Republicans have discussed not offering the measure at all -- thereby avoiding having it voted down. A provision allowing oil exploration in the Alaskan refuge already is in a House-passed energy reform bill -- and therefore will be part of the House-Senate conference.

Confident he has enough votes to defeat the drilling proposal, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, has suggested the Democrats may offer the GOP measure in order to force the vote and hustle its defeat.

Critics argue drilling in the refuge would damage one of the last great wilderness areas on the continent while providing a limited supply of oil.

Vulnerable caribou and other wildlife may face substantial risk if oil is developed in the refuge, according to biologists at the U.S. Department of the Interior. A report they drafted acknowledged that in many cases the risks to a variety of wildlife, including musk oxen, polar bears and migrating birds, could be reduced by restrictions and close management of oil exploration and production.

Soon after that report was released, the department commissioned a new study and released it weeks later. That report reversed the conclusions of the earlier study, saying that oil drilling would not harm wildlife in the refuge.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Florida, has said the threat to the environment has been overstated, noting that the drilling would take place on only a fraction of the refuge, which is the size of South Carolina. He likened the area to a "frozen desert with few signs of life" instead of an "ecological wonderland."

KEY QUESTIONS:

Would better conservation practices mitigate the need to drill in the refuge?

What is the economic impact on native Alaskans of drilling or not drilling?

Given the rate of oil consumption by U.S. citizens, will drilling in the refuge lessen the nation's dependency on imported oil?

How do you balance the spiritual and material dependence of the Ketchikan Indians in southern Alaska on caribou herds that might be adversely affected by drilling with the economic needs of the Intuit in the north, who use drilling proceeds to fund schools, hospitals and police departments?

WHO'S WHO:

George W. Bush: U.S. president, who campaigned that oil drilling in the refuge is key to the nation's energy needs.

Spencer Abraham: secretary of the Energy Department

Gail Norton: secretary of the Interior Department

Tom Daschle: a South Dakota Democrat and Senate majority leader

Frank Murkowski: a Senate Republican from Alaska and one of the sponsors of the GOP energy reform bill, which supports the oil drilling

Cliff Stearns: a Republican representative from Florida and an oil drilling proponent