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Alaska lawmaker sees financial boon in refuge drilling

This aerial photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says her legislation to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling would generate $2 billion in royalties over the next decade _ with half the money going to her home state. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)
This aerial photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says her legislation to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling would generate $2 billion in royalties over the next decade _ with half the money going to her home state. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)

By Associated Press 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says her legislation to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling would generate $2 billion in royalties over the next decade – with half the money going to her home state.

But environmental groups and other critics call those projections wildly optimistic, noting that recent sales on Alaska’s North Slope have fallen short of projected revenue.

Murkowski chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will hold a hearing on the bill next week. The measure calls for at least two major lease sales over the next decade in areas encompassing at least 400,000 acres each in the refuge’s coastal plain. Surface development would be limited to 2,000 acres.

The 19.6-million acre refuge in northeastern Alaska is one of the most pristine areas of the United States and is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.

The wildlife refuge has been the focus of a political fight for more than three decades. President Bill Clinton vetoed a GOP plan to allow drilling in the refuge in 1995, and Democrats led by Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state defeated a similar GOP plan in 2005.