Fifty-six percent of Americans believe the environmental risks of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska outweigh the potential benefits, and only 29 percent say opening ANWR to drilling would be worth the risks, according to a poll conducted by the Mellman Group and released yesterday by The Wilderness Society and the Alaska Wilderness League. (Yes, we did tell you about a different poll earlier this week that found essentially the opposite. That’s polling for you.) Fifty-five percent of respondents in this latest survey said they would back President Clinton if he declared ANWR a national monument, effectively barring oil drilling there. Vice President Al Gore is firmly opposed to drilling in the area, while George W. Bush supports it. Meanwhile, Alaska has imposed new restrictions on BP’s drilling operations in the state’s Northstar field because the company failed a number of spill-response tests. BP is one of the companies champing at the bit to drill in ANWR.
