As their name suggests, their purpose is to provide for wildlife conservation and ecosystem stability. As with any big money political issue with environment overtones, this one has its share of rhetorical prouncements. Here's a quick take on both sides. Areas around the Arctic Ocean have become the newest places for oil exploration and development. The pro-drilling in ANWR side consists primarily of representative of the oil industry, including the petroleum geologists, the Alaskan Government and various local business groups.
Oil is especially important to the Alaskan population because of the revenue it generates.
The pro-drilling side advocates opening up ANWR on the grounds that it provide jobs for residents, increased state revenues and can be accomplished in an environmentally safe manner. In fact, it's more than fair to say that opposition to ANWR oil exploration is one of those rare issues where you can find consensus among all or most environmental groups. Because of the large number of environment groups opposed to opening ANWR to drilling, specific opposition positions change from group to group. Assuming a modicum of diversity among the groups, it's also fair to suggest that their views can be reduced to three or four general consensus points. The amount of potentially recoverable oil is insufficient to meet any perceived or real oil shortage or reduce American dependence on imported oil.