The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 established the 19 million-acres of what is now called the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (fig. 3). In this original act, Congress decided to hold off on making a decision on how to manage the one and a half million-acre coastal plain due to the area's potentially enormous oil and gas resources and its importance as a wildlife habitat. In 1987, the Department of the Interior submitted a report to congress on the potential oil and gas deposits that may be located in ANWR. …
