US Fish and Wildlife considering wilderness rules for ANWR

According to numerous Alaska sources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed Monday that it is beginning a long process to review and perhaps recommend instituting strict wilderness designations in portions of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Such wilderness designations would pretty much prevent oil and gas development in the region. The review, while not at all settled, could result in even greater obstacles to oil and gas development in ANWR's coastal plain and the 1002 block, which are the portions most often at the center of disagreement over development in the contested region. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the review is part of a larger update of the service's comprehensive conservation plan for ANWR, and that the agency's recommendation should be ready by next spring. No matter what the review recommends, the plan faces several levels of federal approval before being implemented. Read much more from the News-Miner, here, and read or watch KTUU-TV's report, here. The News-Miner also collected objections from Alaska's Senate delegation, here.