Lecturer David Hayes weighs in on the current White House proposal to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for E&E Energy Wire. 

In late January, the White House released a folksy online video packed with photos of Alaska wildlife and featuring an appeal from President Obama for Congress to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.

Two days later, the White House barred energy development on nearly 10 million acres in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas, while also proposing new lease sales in other parts of the region.

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Former Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes praised the five-year Arctic management plan as an excellent example of a balanced approach to conservation and energy extraction.

“Let's take off the table the question of leasing in the most sensitive areas, which is, essentially, what the Obama administration is doing with the proposed five-year plan,” said Hayes, now a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress and visiting lecturer at Stanford Law School.

“There's still plenty of acreage out there potentially for oil leasing.”

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