Full Title: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Status of Oil and Gas Program
Author(s): Laura B. Comay
Publisher(s): Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Publication Date: December 27, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or the Refuge) comprises 19 million acres in northeast Alaska, administered primarily by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Department of the Interior. ANWR’s Coastal Plain—a 1.57–million–acre area in the northern part of the Refuge—is viewed as an onshore oil prospect, with a mean estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey of 7.7 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil on federal lands (10.4 billion barrels including Alaska Native lands and adjacent waters). The Refuge also is a center of activity for caribou and other wildlife, with subsistence use by Alaska Natives and critical habitat for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531–1544).