"This project will keep our economy growing by creating jobs and ensuring that businesses can expand," Bush said. "And it will make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, eventually by up to a million barrels of oil a day."

Environmentalists for years have fought such development, contending it would lead to a spider web of drilling platforms, pipelines and roads that would adversely affect the calving grounds of caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds that use the refuge's coastal plain.

It is estimated that there are 10.4 billion barrels or more of oil within the refuge's 600,000-hectare coastal plain.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 26, 2005
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