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APRIL 25, 2001

Big oil companies who stand to benefit from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska are staying out the debate, at least publicly.

After BP Amoco (then just Amoco) and Chevron drilled a test oil well on Inupiat land in ANWR, oil companies pushed heavily for development between 1987 and 1991. The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and the 1999 Gulf War, seen as a fight to protect America's foreign oil allies, changed that.

Now, oil companies say they don't want to be in the spotlight over ANWR. However, they still point out they spend money to lobby Congress in support of drilling.

Get the Story:
ANWR's oil is risky business (The Anchorage Daily News 4/25)

Relevant Links:
Gwich'in Steering Committee - http://www.alaska.net/~gwichin
Oil Issues in ANWR, US Fish and Wildlife - http://arctic.fws.gov/issues1.html
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service - http://arctic.fws.gov
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Pro-Development site - http://www.anwr.org

Related Stories:
Bush: Snowmobile ban, Arctic drilling a go(4/24)
Administration has mixed drilling messages (4/23)
Gwich'in Nation: We Come from the Caribou (4/4)