ANWR is one of those "debates" that has become so removed from facts that discussion of opposed parties is usually hopeless.

When people talk about drilling the natural assumption is that it is somehow bad. Yet there is virtually no proof that on-shore drilling has any environmental hazard especially with modern techniques. People somehow equate off-shore oilspills with on-shore drilling, which are two entirely different beasts.

Furthermore there is 25+ years of ecological data that shows that production on prudhoe bay has had zero impact on the caribou, polar bears, kit foxes, and birds that inhabit the area.

Prudhoe bay is a flat, unbroken, tundra that is a harsh environment for 10 months of the year. For that two months that the tundra thaws out enough its a muck you don't want to get stuck in. The portions of anwr that are of the most interest for reserves borders the sea, which is much of the same and is non-mountainous.

Portions of anwr are without a doubt mountainous although what is considered the Brooks Range is further to the west of anwr. Its worth noting too that NPR (national petroleum reserve) does transcend the brooks range to the west and drilling is allowed in the NPR. Although, again to the best of my knowledge, the best deposits are to the north out on the tundra.

Oh and by the way the Alyeska pipeline already goes right over the brooks range.