The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1960 by the Public Land Order 2241
and was enlarged in 1980 by Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). The refuge encompasses 19.2 million
acres and is called home by forty-five species of land and marine mammals. There are thirty-six species of fish that occur
in the waters of the Arctic Refuge and more than one-hundred-and-eighty species of birds have been observed on the refuge.
The area known as the coastal plain area of the refuge encompasses 1.5 million acres of the refuge. The Coastal Plain region
is the only know polar bear denning area known on land, and the area is well known for the 129,000 caribou that come to the
region to bear and nurse their young each year.
Moreover, the Coastal Plain is rich in oil and gas and has been the center of a heated controversy whether or not to
drill for the abundance of these greatly sought after natural resources. Referring to this area of the coastal plain, Congress
declared in Section 1003 of ANILCA that the "production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is prohibited
and no leasing or other development leading to production of oil and gas from the [Refuge] shall be undertaken until authorized
by an act of Congress." Now it is being considered by Congress to partake in the drilling and production of oil in the area.
