Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has announced steps that could lead to additional petroleum development in northern Alaska.
Zinke signed an order Wednesday calling for an updated assessment of oil and gas reserves in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to polar bears and caribou.
He also ordered a review of a management plan approved under former President Barack Obama that restricted drilling in nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Opening the wildlife refuge to drilling would take an act of Congress. Zinke says Congress needs more information to make a decision.
Environmental groups condemned Zinke’s announcement.
Kristen Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League says Zinke’s order for the petroleum reserve upsets a carefully crafted management plan developed with tribes, the state and others.
