To finance a small portion of the costs of the Republican tax plan currently working its way through Congress, lawmakers are pushing to open Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Considered one of the last intact spaces in the United States, opening the Arctic to drilling has long been a dream of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Until now, most press reports have focused primarily on the environmental risks of drilling and the very problematic economics of selling leases inside the remote wildlife refuge. What has not been reported is the potential impact of developing oil reserves inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the lower 48 states, particularly the Mountain West.