se animals but to many of their crucial life activities. Over 45% of Alaska's pregnant polar bears den in land protected by the reserve (Drew, 1996, p. 16). The 130,000 animals that make up the Porcupine Caribou heard-one of the largest in North America-also venture to the ANWR to give birth and feed on the abundance of plant life found along the rich coastal plain (http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/arctic/arissue.html).
             Along with the numerous living resources found in the ANWR, rich oil deposits may be hidden far below the permafrost crust. Fifty miles away from ANWR's eastern border, at Prudhoe Bay, the Trans-Alaska pipeline begins. The pipeline-- built in 1970--stretches from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez in the south and since its construction has been used to aid in drilling for oil. As stated by Doherty, it was inevitable that the supply of oil found at Prudhoe Bay would eventually disappear. However, the Trans-Alaska pipeline would still be in place (1996). Due to its location near other oil-rich land the ANWR sparked interest as another possible drilling location (Doherty, 1996, p. 34). Herein lays the birth of the debate over drilling to support a nations endless supply of wants for oil, or protecting the pristine natural integrity of such an important piece of land.
             In his personal testimony, former Congressman John Seiberling detailed
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