Ardor for ANWR fortifies opposing camps.

• Author: Tyson, Ray
• Position: Debate over oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain in Alaska

Agreeing only that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain is unique valuable, conservationists and those who favor opening the area to oil exploration are divided on its best use.

Congress again is debating whether to open the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and development or to enshrine it forever as an unscathed wilderness area. Perhaps the most sought after chunk of real estate in the country, ANWR has emerged inarguably as the nation's crown jewel for both the oil and environmental-minded communities of America.

"ANWR is truly everyone's crown jewel, not just the crown jewel of the circumpolar Arctic from a greenie point of view; it's also a crown jewel of the whole petroleum industry in the circumpolar Arctic," explains Becky Gay, executive director of the Alaska Resource Development Council.

With the supergiant Prudhoe Bay oil field on the decline and the nation becoming increasingly dependent on foreign imports, pro-industry forces, as well as President George Bush, still maintain the Coastal Plain represents the best hope to replenish domestic oil supplies. After years of debate, however, political observers say there is almost nothing new to be said on the ANWR issue.

Says John Roots, Arco Alaska's vice president of governmental affairs, "The parties are the same, and the issue hasn't changed. About the only difference I see at this point is that the legislation will be developed in a broader context. It will be more global in scope, in that it will contain a focus on national energy priorities and needs, as opposed to just opening ANWR."

Adds Tom Cook, Chevron's Alaska exploration representative, "It has all of the geological ingredients that we see characterizing other areas, notably Prudhoe Bay and areas to the east. You've got the right sequence of rocks, you've got large structures, you've got source rocks, and you know petroleum has been generated (through surface seeps)."

Touting their environmental record at Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope fields, oil companies say new technologies help to guarantee the Coastal Plain would be developed in a responsible manner, taking up only 8,000 to 12,000 acres - roughly an area the size of Washington D.C.'s Dulles International Airport.

"You can eat off the floors in our facilities," says Roots, "and that's the way we're going to develop ANWR. Whether it gets open in two years or five years or whatever, that's the way we're going to develop ANWR. And we will do it with a lot of consideration toward minimizing our impact."

But the nation's environmental groups continue to question industry's track record in the Arctic. They say exploration and development on the Coastal Plain will destroy wildlife habitat and forever alter its unique landscape. They say the United States needs alternatives to fossil fuels and that Alaska must move away from...