Drill, Baby, Drill ! The American Right and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Published in: Dynamiques environnementales
• Main Author: Collomb, Jean-Daniel
• Other Authors: Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 (UJML), Université de Lyon
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: wildlife refuges; technology; preservationism; oil; conservatism; ecology; environmentalism; ideology; landscape; libertarianism; national parks; Conservatisme; écologie; environnementalisme; idéologie; libertarianisme; parcs nationaux; paysage; pétrole; préservationnisme; technique; [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; [SHS.ENVIR]Humanities and Social Sciences/Environmental studies; [SHS.SCIPO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Political science; Arctic; Alaska
• Online Access: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01719511; https://doi.org/10.4000/dynenviron.1112

International audience This article analyzes the attitudes of American conservatives and libertarians with regard to federal conservationist policies in theUnited States, taking the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska as a case study. ANWR is a huge tract of land located inthe northeastern part of Alaska. Since 1960 it has enjoyed wilderness status, that is to say, the highest degree of protection for federallands in the United States. Its size was vastly increased when Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act(ANILCA) in 1980. Since then, the 1002 area, which is located in the northern part of the Refuge and which contains large reserves ofpetroleum, has become a major bone of contention pitting environmentalists against free-marketers. The former want the Refuge toremain inviolate whilst the latter push for the immediate opening of the 1002 area to oil drilling. This article sheds light on the reasonsfor the positions held by the American Right, and moreover looks at its implications for federally preserved areas in the United Statesby examining the publications on ANWR by the main conservative and libertarian think tanks which have developed a genuineinterest in this issue. Since the 1970s, various think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, have often been financed by well-heeledcorporate interests and have acted as the ideological arsenal of the American Right on all topics which US elected officials can beexpected to discuss. In the specific case of ANWR, as in many others, conservative and libertarian think tanks provide Republicanmembers of Congress, and some Alaska Democrats, with economic, technical, and scientific arguments to justify opening theRefuge. Opening the Refuge is not the free-marketers’ only priority: they also intend to call into question the justification for federalinterventionism by calling for an end to environmental regulations and the almost total privatization of federally-owned lands. Inpoint of fact, the repeated attempts made by the ...