ANWR oil one step closer

U.S. lawmakers voted last week to open a vast Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
By a vote of 223-206, the U.S. House of Representatives on Aug. 1 passed an energy bill that permits oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska.

Drilling in the refuge is opposed by environmentalists and also by the Gwich’in Indians of Alaska, the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. The Gwich’in fear that drilling will harm the Porcupine caribou herd, which calves in the refuge.

But Inuit in Alaska support opening ANWR. They own land-use rights in the refuge and will likely profit from any drilling that takes place.

The U.S. Senate must approve the ANWR bill before it becomes law. Senators will likely take up the issue in September.