Lawmakers renew push for drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge

[Rhiannon12866]

11. And you have to know who was responsible for protecting a big part of that land:

Jimmy Carter speaks about Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on its 50th anniversary (January 18, 2011)
http://articles.herald-mail.com/2011-01-18/news/27035801_1_president-jimmy-carter-porcupine-caribou-anwr

<snip>

Carter, now 86, and Cecil D. Andrus, his interior department secretary, found a solution in the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gave Carter the authority through executive order to designate national monuments in the refuge.

"We found 17," he said. "After that, Sen. Stevens began to negotiate with us."

"I spent more time looking at the map of Alaska than anywhere," Carter said.

Public opinion in Alaska ran so strong against Carter that the Secret Service advised him not to go into the state.

"They burned me in effigy in Fairbanks," he said.

Once, at a public event, two dunk tanks were set up, "one with my face and one with the Ayatollah Khomeini," he said.

Carter said he later felt that the refuge would be safe forever, even through subsequent administrations and both houses of Congress.

"A few weeks after I left office, President (Ronald) Reagan appointed James Watt as interior secretary and ANWR was opened to drilling," said Carter, who described Watt as "despicable."

Every time Republicans took over the White House, there were new moves to open the refuge to development, he said.

<snip>