The size of ANWR is 19 million acres and closed it to all petroleum exploration. If ANWR were a state, it would rank 40th in size. The entire Coastal Plain of ANWR accounts for only 1.5 million acres. This is only one-tenth of the refuge. ANWR is a natural replacement of Prudhoe's production decline.
Many environmentalists are also concerned about the Native tribes in the refuge.
There are two small Native tribes that live in the Refuge and both have two different views on the matter. The Gwich'in Indians don't want oil development in ANWR because they fear it would wipe out the caribou, which is the most important animal to them. They think if the caribou dies out, the Gwich'in Indians culture might be destroyed and they might be forced to move. The Inupiat Indians of Coastal Plains disagree with the Gwich'in Indians position. Inupiat Indians think the caribou will be fine and so will the environment.