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Alaska Republicans Go Ballistic on Obama After ANWR Decision

The president's move to protect more of the refuge from oil drilling has Republican officials in the state fighting mad.

Alaska, ANWR, Franklin Mountains, Brooks Range reflected in Schrader Lake — Photograph: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

David Knowles

January 25, 2015, 9:29 PM UTC

Those are fighting words.

President Barack Obama's decision to ask Congress to designate parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area, putting the land off-limits for oil drilling, is not going over well with Republicans in the state, to say the least.