Trump auctions Arctic refuge to oil drillers in last strike against US wilderness

Sales of drilling rights are the climax to one of the nation's highest-profile environmental battlesIn one of its last strikes against the American wilderness, Donald Trump's administration will on Wednesday auction off portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drillers.The lease sales are the climax to one of the nation's highest-profile environmental battles. The lands on the northern coastal plain of Alaska are home to denning polar bears and migrating herds of porcupine caribou that indigenous communities depend on and consider sacred. But the oil industry has long suspected that the ground beneath the plain holds billions of barrels of petroleum. Continue reading...