According to the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Babbitt encouraged the rush to drill in little known wildlands in the 23.5 million acre Reserve, the largest expanse of undeveloped public land left in America.

"This is no compromise between conservation and development," said Sylvia Ward, Executive Director of the Northern Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. "Wilderness is precious and increasingly rare. Oil is also finite, although it is cheap and abundant today. Not one square inch of the Reserve is permanently protected from pipelines, roads, oil drilling, or pollution, yet millions of acres of wilderness and natural wildlife habitat are now condemned."

One might have predicted this decision from Babbitt considering his interest in protecting the interests of Big Coal.