The Nation - News from Nov. 16, 1987

A proposal to give oil drilling rights to six Alaska native corporations in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for land in other refuges could cost taxpayers billions of dollars, congressional and state government critics said. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), citing huge oil company offers for drilling rights on the land, has complained that the federal government is undervaluing the tracts it wants to trade away. The Alaska Division of Gas and Oil and some oil industry officials also have questioned government estimates of the land’s value. The Reagan Administration announced earlier this year a plan to convey drilling rights on 166,000 refuge acres to six native corporations in exchange for 891,000 acres the corporations own in seven other refuges in the state.