Last year Congress used a legislative sleight of hand to open the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and development. There was little discussion or debate about the hastily crafted bill which makes some wild assumptions about potential revenues and misstates the scale of development and its potential impacts. In this presentation Ken Whitten will discuss Arctic Refuge leasing in the context of other oil and gas programs on the North Slope and illustrate the Refuge’s key significance as part of a larger conservation system protecting the Porcupine Caribou Herd and other wildlife.