Hodel Urges Drilling in Refuge
Citing benefits to national security from possibly vast pools of oil to be found, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel recommended today that Congress open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
The recommendation to open 1.5 million acres of the 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the Arctic Ocean along the Yukon border was no surprise. Hodel, a former energy secretary, has long sought ways to increase domestic oil and gas production. But he will likely face long odds in getting Congress to approve his recommendation.
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