RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And now let's get to a report on new protections proposed by President Obama for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Here's NPR's Sam Sanders.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: Obama's Department of Interior will push for heavier conservation measures over millions of acres of the Arctic refuge. The president made the announcement in a YouTube video with music and pictures of Arctic wildlife.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge is an incredible place, pristine, undisturbed. It supports caribou and polar bears, all manner of marine life.
SANDERS: The plan is to give more of the refuge the designation of wilderness. That title means you can't drill or mine or build a road or any other permanent structure there. Right now, less than 40 percent of the 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has that declaration.
The new protections from the Interior Department are temporary. Only Congress can make a permanent wilderness declaration. And with both chambers controlled by Republicans, that seems unlikely. That's because the measure might slow oil and natural gas drilling. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski called the new measures an attack on her state's economy and vowed to fight back with every resource at her disposal.
Malte Humpert is the executive director of the Arctic Institute, a think tank. Humpert says Obama gets something even if Congress doesn't approve a permanent wilderness designation.
MALTE HUMPERT: This is kind of a very low-hanging fruit. It's an easy initiative to announce, and then you can blame Republicans for not passing it.
SANDERS: The Obama administration is set to announce further conservation measures this week, including limits on drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Sam Sanders, NPR News.