Lucianne.com linked to a wonderful 2005 article by Jonah Goldberg that exposes the truth of the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve: most of it is butt-ugly and far (in actual distance and in degree) from anything you could call scenic.
Having lived in the Arctic for a year I can confirm that bleakness is the norm. If gravel and lichen are your thing, it’s a paradise. But lack of beauty aside, even if we were to drill in ANWR, would anyone notice? The impact area of an oil-drilling effort these days is practically nil. The workers interviewed by Goldberg show the efforts taken to protect wildlife (a guy was fired for throwing a rock at an Arctic fox, most of which are rabid).
Someone please tell John McCain to read this article before saying anything else stupid.
