“This is a really big deal,” Niel Lawrence, Alaska director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said. “This is a frontal attack in an ideological battle. The Arctic is the holy grail.”

With oil prices hovering near $50 per barrel, it is not clear if companies even want to drill in the refuge in the near future. But people who follow the industry said Saturday they thought the Interior Department’s proposal to allow seismic exploration was an important step in taking stock for the future.

“The last thing enviros want is to get a more accurate picture of the resources underneath A.N.W.R. because it could be extensive. I don’t think $50 a barrel is going to last forever,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, which promotes fossil fuels. “What are they afraid of? What is wrong with learning more about what is going on? All of a sudden they’re afraid of science?”