Interior Department panel rejects Alaska’s claim to 20,000 acres near Arctic National Wildlife Refuge again.

An Interior Department panel has again rejected a claim by the state of Alaska that it is owed roughly 20,000 acres near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) that it claims it is entitled to the land. The issue has been resolved in large part due to a technical mapping dispute that has been ongoing for years. The panel of the the Interior Board of Land Appeals upheld a Bureau of Land Management line drawn along ANWR’s northwestern boundary. The state sued, and the appeal board was directed to re-examine maps dating back to 1951.