JUDY WOODRUFF:

The president's actions sparked immediate and sharp opposition from some Republicans, including Alaska Senator and Senate Energy Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski, who joins me now.

Senator, welcome.

So, first of all, why is this a bad idea?

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI, Chair, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: Well, to effectively put off-limits forever the entire ANWR area, some 19 million acres, on top of what is already contained in the state of Alaska, we have — we have more than half of the wilderness in the entire United States in the state of Alaska.

So of all the wilderness and all the 49 other states out there, we have got more than all of the other states combined. So what the president is doing through this action is a process that would — could eventually lead to permanent wilderness status.

And, fortunately, this is something that the Congress is going to have to sign off on. I don't see any scenario where this Congress will allow for permanent designation of all of ANWR, including the 1002 area, the area that's been specifically designated by Congress to be reserved for oil and gas exploration.