Democrats kill Alaska oil drilling in defense bill

Senate Democrats succeeded on Wednesday in killing a Republican plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that was part of a massive $453 billion wartime military spending bill that later passed.

The vast ANWR refuge is the size of South Carolina and may hold 10 billion barrels of oil. It has been the focus of bitter wrangling in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades and drilling supporters said they would not give up the fight.

reuters