Bush opens Alaska region for oil and gas drilling

DEFYING environmentalists' concerns, the government is going ahead with plans to open up 8.8m acres of the northwest corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), in the North Slope, to oil and gas development. Geologists have estimated oil reserves in the region are likely to be between 6bn and 13bn barrels, but, according to environmental activists, this is spread over a wide area and would prove costly to recover. Critics say the plan would jeopardise Arctic tundra, lakes and ponds, which provide sanctuary for wildlife and migratory birds, however, none of the 8.8m acres are in the wildlife refuge. Chuck Clusen, director of the Alaska lands project for the Natural Resources Def