Last week, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge made headlines all over the world: the Trump administration finalized plans to open up this piece of remote, Alaskan wilderness to oil and gas development. 

But what does this latest move in the decades-long battle over the future of ANWR really mean?

To find out, and to understand what might be next in this saga, we sat down with Heather Richards, who covers drilling on federal lands for E&E News, a journalism outlet focused on energy and the environment. 

Listen to our Peabody Award-winning series The Refuge for an in-depth look into the tangle of politics, economic aspirations, traditional culture, and environmental activism that have shaped this controversy for decades. 

Learn more about Threshold on our website. Our reporting is made possible by listeners like you. Become part of our passionate network of supporters here. 

This series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.