ANWR History A decade before our modern protection for Wilderness became law, a group of visionary scientists and conservationists were calling for full protection of "America's Last Great Wilderness," which became the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Perhaps our last true frontier, this expanse of nearly 20 million acres in the northeast corner of Alaska is our only wilderness fully above the Arctic circle. It is a vibrant and delicate ecosystem, a part of every American's natural heritage that is again threatened by corporate greed. The Refuge was established in 1960 to "preserve the natural condition, diversity of wildlife, and other special values" of the area. The idea that Wilderness itself is a valuable resource to the people of the entire nation is what motivated those such as Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to recommend that "This last American living wilderness must remain sacrosanct," and to fight for the protection of this place. As a result of their vision, we now have a place that is a thriving, active laboratory and museum of natural history. There are boreal forests and arctic tundra that are perfectly intact, providing a home for over 180 species of birds and forty five species of mammals that are important to our ecosystems, and the ecosystems of other nations. Birds migrate south to the continental U.S., and to other countries such as Canada and Russia, playing an important role in ecosystems there. It is an ecosystem vital to us as an ecosystem, not just as a "natural resource." A short political history of the ANWR The fate of the ecosystem that is now the ANWR began to be debated in the late 1950s by Congress, prompted by a group of conservationists and scientists. Oil companies had been eyeing this area for development as early as 1923, when the establishment of the Naval Petroleum Reserve blocked oil development in much of northern Alaska (see map). While the National Park Service had recommended that the area become a wildlife reserve as early as 1957, Congress failed to agree on any protection for the area. Instead, President Eisenhower's Secretary of the Interior, Fred Seaton, established an 8.9-million-acre Arctic Wildlife Range, as the current Refuge system had not yet been established. President Johnson laid the groundwork for further protection during his administration, signing the Wilderness Act in 1964, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 and banning the export of Alaskan crude oil in 1966. President Carter's signing of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980 not only gave the Range its greatest measure of protection, but also subjected the area to the heaviest impacts it has yet endured. It changed the Range into a Refuge, designated eight million acres as Wilderness and three rivers as Wild and Scenic Rivers, and expanded the total area to more than 18 million acres. During the winters of 1984 and 1985, seismic exploration for oil and gas took place, leaving more than 1400 miles of heavy equipment tracks that can still be seen today. Over the years, the ANWR has continued to grow. In 1983, the State of Alaska added one million acres to the south side of the Refuge, and in 1988 Congress added 325,000 acres, expanding the Refuge to its current size of 19.8 million acres. Meanwhile, oil companies have tried numerous tactics to open the area to drilling. An underhanded "rider" was attached to congressional budget legislation in 1995, which President Clinton vetoed to preserve the refuge (please see our article on Riders). But Clinton overturned the three-decade-old ban on the export of Alaskan crude oil a year later and signed an executive order in 1998 that allowed oil to be pumped from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). These two actions have put the ANWR in extreme danger. By shipping our natural resources overseas for profit, they have exacerbated our energy crisis. Thus, the oil industry now claims it needs the small amount of oil in the ANWR to relieve the energy crisis and to ensure our national security. Meanwhile, they are pumping oil from the NPR-A, a strategic reserve established specifically for "some great national emergency that would demand a source of fuel for our fighting ships." Instead of keeping these resources for the purpose for which they were intended, they are exporting our reserves to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. Currently, the ANWR faces its greatest enemy: George W. Bush. He has supported drilling the ANWR for years, and has appointed Gale Norton, who also supports drilling within the ANWR as his Secretary of the Interior.