Trump explains support for oil drilling in Arctic refuge

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – President Donald Trump says he didn’t really care about opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling but pushed the issue for inclusion in the tax bill passed in December at the urging of others.

Trump spoke Thursday at a Republican retreat in West Virginia.

Trump says he was told of the refuge’s importance by a friend in the petroleum business. Trump says the refuge is one of the world’s great potential fields.

The refuge is also home to birthing grounds for a large caribou herd and threatened polar bears.

Native Alaskans who hunt caribou and environmental groups strongly oppose drilling.

Alaska Wilderness League director Adam Kolton says Trump’s remarks show that jamming Arctic Refuge drilling in the tax bill was always about politics and not thoughtful energy policy.