The Nation - News from April 22, 1988

A House subcommittee rejected a move by environmental groups to prohibit petroleum development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for at least two years. The 17-9 vote came as the Merchant Marine subcommittee on fisheries and wildlife conservation and the environment began consideration of a bill that would open the refuge’s 1.5-million acre coastal plain to oil exploration. The bill would allow phased oil leasing and development within 21 months of enactment so long as the activity does not significantly harm the ecology of the refuge. The defeated amendment would have barred any leasing in the coastal plain for two to three years while the Department of the Interior drafted a comprehensive national energy policy keyed to conservation and renewable resources.