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The Obama administration will propose setting aside more than 12 million acres in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, the White House announced Sunday, halting any chance of oil exploration for now in the refuge’s much-fought-over coastal plain and sparking a fierce battle with Republicans, including the new chair of the Senate Energy Committee.“Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge is an incredible place — pristine, undisturbed. It supports caribou and polar bears, all manner of marine life, countless species of birds and fish, and for centuries it supported many Alaska Native communities. But it’s very fragile,” President Obama said in a White House video on the move.
The announcement, according to individuals briefed on the plan, is just the first in a series of decisions the Interior Department will make in the coming week that will affect the state’s oil and gas production. The department will also put part of the Arctic Ocean off limits to drilling as part of a five-year leasing plan it will issue this week and is considering whether to impose additional limits on oil and gas production in parts of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. (Read more from this story about Obama’s wilderness designation of 12+ million ANWR acres HERE)
Here’s Obama’s Touchy-Feely Message Supporting the ANWR Shutdown:
Read more: http://joemiller.us/2015/01/obama-declares-war-alaska-designating-12-million-anwr-acres-off-limits-wilderness/#ixzz3PwQDfnz2
Read more at http://joemiller.us/2015/01/obama-declares-war-alaska-designating-12-million-anwr-acres-off-limits-wilderness/#qi8oPk9LElPoa146.99
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