(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - The State of Alaska is putting pressure on the federal government to consider an exploration plan in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

According to a release from Governor Sean Parnell’s office, the State of Alaska today filed a motion for summary judgment in its ongoing litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska to order the federal government to allow exploration inside the coastal plain or “Section 1002” area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The motion challenges the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) refusal to consider the State’s carefully developed geophysical exploration plan for the coastal plain. The State’s plan, developed under the direction of Governor Parnell, complies with existing federal law authorizing the gathering of up-to-date scientific information about the oil and gas resource potential of the coastal plain.

“The State must pursue litigation with Washington to explore ANWR because the information that will be gained from our plan is invaluable to both Alaska and the United States as a whole,” Governor Parnell said. “Our legal position is strong, and the national interest is best served by understanding what hydrocarbon resources underlie the coastal plain, and how they could support our economic and energy security. We will not give the federal government a free pass to choke Alaska’s economic development.”

In the motion the State asserts: Exploration of this area was mandated by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and is authorized by the plain language of law today. Conversely, the Obama administration has claimed that the FWS has no authority to review the State’s plan, and therefore has refused to consider it.

The State’s exploration plan was submitted to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in July of 2013 and complies with all existing FWS regulations. The plan calls for using advanced three-dimensional seismic imaging to provide the people of Alaska and the United States with valuable information about the extent and accessibility of the significant oil and gas resources in the 1002 area.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska. It consists of 19,286,722 acres in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the United States.

The region first became a federal protected area in 1960 by order of Fred Andrew Seaton, Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The question of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been an ongoing political controversy in the United States since 1977.

Edited by Mary Kauffman

Source of News: 

Office of Governor Sean Parnell
www.gov.state.ak.us

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