"The Trump administration's push to allow oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain will have a hard time surviving required environmental reviews, a former Interior Department official said today at a Capitol Hill Democratic forum.
David Hayes, who served as deputy Interior secretary in the Obama administration, argued that drilling in the coastal plain might not satisfy the mandates of the National Environmental Policy Act. Development would cause serious damage and is certain to be challenged in the courts by green groups, he added.
Dismissing claims that oil development there will provide $1 billion in revenue for the U.S. Treasury, Hayes argued that "Congress is telling us to sacrifice a world-class, unique, sensitive ecosystem for a crapshoot." Hayes is now executive director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at New York University School of Law."
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