--- title: Why Oil Companies May Not Be Interested in Drilling ANWR description: It remains how unclear if drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge would generate as much revenue as Republicans reformers say. canonical: https://time.com/5011486/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-06T20:05:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:01.269Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Want to Allow Drilling in an Alaskan Wildlife Refuge og:description: It's a major controversy og:url: https://time.com/5011486/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b663cf8174e716c/6988e4c6929fad4ffbbee5c2/anwr-oil-drilling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: anwr oil drilling og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Want to Allow Drilling in an Alaskan Wildlife Refuge twitter:description: It's a major controversy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b663cf8174e716c/6988e4c6929fad4ffbbee5c2/anwr-oil-drilling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Want to Allow Drilling in an Alaskan Wildlife Refuge. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Scott Pruitt's EPA [Watch (HLS stream): Scott Pruitt's EPA](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kwozIrQS.m3u8) (3:14)  _Published 2017-10-26. TIME's Justin Worland sits down with Scott Pruitt of the EPA_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 6, 2017 8:05 PM UTC  This undated photo shows the Kongakut Valley in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska This undated photo shows the Kongakut Valley in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 6, 2017 8:05 PM UTC Republicans in Congress have added a proposal to allow oil drilling in a long-disputed Alaskan wildlife refuge to their tax reform bill, but experts say that oil and gas companies might not even be interested. The [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act](http://time.com/5007611/trump-tax-plan-republican-reform/) includes a provision to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, also referred to as ANWR, in part because it allows them to claim revenue that can be used to offset tax cuts elsewhere in the bill, but experts say both the drilling and any revenue are strictly hypothetical at this point. “The economics are really uncertain, and it’s hard to tell what the ultimate appetite would be,” says Trevor Houser, a partner at Rhodium Group, a research firm that analyzes the energy industry. “It’s entirely possible that they will open ANWR and it will attract very little investment.” The debate over ANWR has raged for decades as energy companies have pushed the federal government to open the refuge to oil and gas drilling arguing that would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil and could generate thousands of jobs in Alaska. And in that time environmentalists have typically countered that the development would endanger wildlife and disrupt pristine land that remains untouched by humans. Those arguments have halted similar Republican moves in the past, but with the GOP in control of Congress and the White House, Republicans finally have a chance — and the tax reform bill gives them an opportunity to slip in the measure as part of a larger package. But the oil and gas industry is markedly less excited and that lack of enthusiasm has opened up a whole new angle to criticize the possibility of opening the refuge. “They’re in a hurry for something that the industry hasn’t been excited about,” Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington [told](https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2017/11/02/first-skirmish-of-latest-anwr-kicks-off-223135) Politico. “In 50 years, \[we\] are going to be dead and the only thing that’s going to matter is whether we’ve preserved a place as unique as this.” Allowing drilling in the refuge has faced bipartisan opposition in the past. Seven Republicans joined with Democrats to [vote against](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/politics/senate-votes-to-allow-drilling-in-arctic-reserve.html) opening ANWR to drilling in 2005, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine, who remain in office today and have shown a willingness to defy their GOP colleagues this year. The declining interest in ANWR follows rapid growth in oil resources elsewhere in the U.S. Fracking technology, which first exploded in use around a decade ago, fundamentally shifted the U.S. energy market allowing oil companies reach vast reserves of oil previously thought inaccessible. The opening of offshore drilling has also contributed to the shift in dynamics. The result has been a vast supply and low prices. The proven U.S. crude oil reserves nearly doubled between 2008 and 2014, according to [data](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=RCRR01NUS%5F1&f=A) from the Energy Information Administration. At the same time, oil prices are now a fraction of what they were a decade ago. The revived debate on ANWR follows a directive from the Senate Budget Committee to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to come up with $1 billion to address the federal budget deficit. Republicans on the committee, led by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have suggested that the U.S. could collect that revenue through leasing the land to oil and gas companies to explore and develop. In a [statement](https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republican-news?ID=95B155DA-368B-4538-AC71-FFB5D507D9D3) last week, Murkowski said that the project would “generate tens of billions of dollars in revenues over the life of the fields for every level of government.” But as long as oil prices remain low energy analysts will remain skeptical. An [analysis](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-31/arctic-refuge-oil-bonanza-more-likely-to-be-bust-for-gop-budget) from Bloomberg suggested that the U.S. would earn around $145 million from leasing land in the next decade. And whether any of that development would lead to drilling is another question. Some once promising projects like [Arctic offshore drilling](http://time.com/3854262/shell-arctic-drilling-plan/) have been halted altogether as a result of cost while others like the [Keystone XL pipeline](http://time.com/4645434/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-keystone-xl/) have a doubtful future even as they enjoy newfound support in Washington from the Trump Administration. But even if drilling in the Arctic does not bring in a single dollar of revenue, Republicans can still count the hypothetical income as though it would help keep the bill from adding even more to the deficit. Then Republicans just need to make up some of the rest of the $1.5 trillion gap. ## Transcript My personal opinion is immaterial. Really? To the job of- You are gonna be the head of the agency to protect the environment and your personal feelings about whether climate change is caused by human activity and carbon emissions is immaterial? [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] Science tells us that the climate is changing. And that human activity in some manner impacts that change. The ability to measure, with precision to degree and the extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue, and well it should be. Part of what I did initially, coming into this position Was advanced [ UNKNOWN ] the basics agenda. Getting back to the core basic missions of the agency to really focus on a very constructive, tangible outcomes with respect to how we're improving the environment. You know the EPA should pass rules that are within the framework the Congress has established. That sounds pretty novel, but that's exactly what should occur. We shouldn't re- imagine our authority. To pick winners and losers. Our job is to enforce the law and so when a statue is passed by Congress, whether it's a clean air act or [ UNKNOWN ] or clean water act, our job is to administer that statue pursuant to the responsibilities and obligations and authority that Congress has given us. What's happened the last several years, Is this agency among others? but this agency particularly has taken a statute and really stretched them so far. That the courts are that step in and say you don't have authority or didn't have authority to do that. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] I think what the American people deserve is a open, honest, transparent discussion about what do we know or what don't we know with respect to CO2. You're welcome to the EPA, perhaps some of you this is your first visit to the EPA, its good to see co- monitors here at the EPA. The President, by his signature today, is rejecting the narrative that this country cannot be both pro- energy and pro- environment. So when environmental groups say you spend most of your time meeting with quote unquote polluters. Your response it seems might be something- I don't spend any time with polluters. Right. I prosecute polluters. Right. What I'm spending time with are stakeholders that care about outcomes. When you ask about the groups we've met with, those farmers and ranchers in Iowa or North Dakota or other parts, are they less of a conservation and environmentalist because they're not a part of some association? I mean they're our first environmentalist. Their greatest asset is their land. I think it's very important to help real orient thinking. To help us as a country understand that environmental stewardship should be our objective, should be our goal. Environmental protection is not to put up a fence, to say that we can feed the world or not, whether we can power the world or not. It's to use the natural resources that we've been blessed with as a country to help feed the world, power the world, but also do it in a way that is environmentally conscious and sensitive to future generations. So that's kind of a re- orientation of thinking, an attitude if you will along with specific focal points of measurements in each of these areas of air, land and water. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5011486/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5011486/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling/"},"headline":"Republicans Want to Allow Drilling in an Alaskan Wildlife Refuge. 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