"The Department of Interior on Monday proposed a mixture of new oil and gas development and environmental protections in a vast swathe of Arctic land."
"The department said its preferred alternative for managing the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska calls for about half of the Indiana-sized land unit to be opened to oil and gas leasing. Other areas important to polar bears, seals, migratory birds and other wildlife would be protected from development.
The proposed plan was welcomed by environmental activists but drilling supporters said they were unhappy.
'What we want to do is make sure that we don't mess it up,' Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at an Anchorage news conference."
Yereth Rosen reports for Reuters August 12, 2012.
SEE ALSO:
"Troubled Arctic Challenger Cited for Small Illegal Discharges" (Los Angeles Times)
"Salazar Plan Puts Half of Alaska Petroleum Reserve Off-Limits To Drilling" (Washington Post)
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