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 The proposal, unveiled by the Interior Department on Sunday, ran
into instant criticism from Republicans and will likely face an
uphill battle in Congress, where Republicans now control both
chambers.
The wilderness designation, the highest level of federal protection
under which oil and gas drilling is banned, would be extended to a
total of 19.8 million acres (8 million hectares) under the proposal,
the Interior Department said.
The move was the latest salvo in the energy wars between Obama, a
Democrat, and Republican lawmakers. Republicans kicked off the new
Congress earlier this month with a bill to approve the Keystone XL
pipeline to help move Canadian tar sands oil to refineries on the
U.S. Gulf Coast. Obama immediately said he would veto the measure.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Republican chair of the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the Obama
administration's proposal a politically motivated attack on Alaska.
 On Friday, she had introduced a bill that would have permitted oil
production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"It's clear this administration does not care about us, and sees us
as nothing but a territory. The promises made to us at statehood,
and since then, mean absolutely nothing to them. I cannot understand
why this administration is willing to negotiate with Iran, but not
Alaska," Murkowski said in a statement on Sunday.
Alaska Governor Bill Walker told a news conference he had no
immediate plans to sue but wanted to reach out to other states for
support.
“They are taking our economy away from us,” said Walker, an
independent who took office last month. Describing the move as akin
to telling Hawaii it could have no more tourism, Walker said: "This
signals a trend ... one we will not stand for. “
The area in question, a 1.4 million-acre (566,000-hectare) strip
wedged between the peaks of the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean,
is a vital site for polar bears and the migratory Porcupine caribou
herd, which raises young there.
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"Other oilfields are available. The Arctic Refuge is too special a
place to drill," said David Hayes, senior fellow at the liberal
Center for American Progress.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the coastal plain holds 10.3
billion barrels of recoverable oil.
The Washington Post, which first reported the story, said the
Interior Department would also place part of the Arctic Ocean off
limits to drilling and was considering additional limits on oil and
gas production in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
The announcement is one of a series the Interior Department will
make this week that will affect Alaska's oil and gas production, the
Post said.
The energy wars are taking place against a backdrop of surging
domestic oil and gas production in recent years. Across the United
States, oil production has risen by more than 3 million barrels per
day in the past four years and by more than 2 million bpd in the
past two years alone.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Valerie Volcovici, and Steve
Quinn in Juneau, Alaska; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Frances Kerry and
Eric Walsh)
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