US approves oil, gas leasing plan for Alaska wildlife refuge

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration gave final approval Monday for a contentious oil and gas leasing plan on the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where critics worry about the industry’s impact on polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.

The next step, barring lawsuits, will be the actual sale of leases. Development — should it occur — is still years away.

Environmentalists have promised to fight opening up the coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land along Alaska’s northern Beaufort Sea coast after the Department of the Interior approved an oil...