Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Yahoo! News Photos

FILE - This 2003 file photo released by Subhankar Banerjee shows ...

(AP) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:22:19 GMT

(AP) - FILE - This 2003 file photo released by Subhankar Banerjee shows a polar bear walking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Since an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas pollution was signed in Kyoto, Japan, in Dec. 1997, the level of carbon dioxide in the air has increased 6.5 percent. Officials from across the world will convene in Copenhagen next month to seek a follow-up pact, one that President Barack Obama says 'has immediate operational effect...an important step forward in the effort to rally the world around a solution.' (AP Photo/Subhankar Banerjee, File)

FILE - In this March 3, 2009 file photo, Marvin Odum, president ...

(AP) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:35:52 GMT

(AP) - FILE - In this March 3, 2009 file photo, Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co., talks during an interview in New York. Odum said Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009, the company did not ask a federal agency to delay a decision on the company's request to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Chukchi Sea. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)

FILE - In this Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 picture, Gwich'in Indian ...

(AP) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:03:41 GMT

(AP) - FILE - In this Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 picture, Gwich'in Indian elder Sarah James beats a drum during a protest near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. An elder of the Gwich'in Nation, James won the Goldman Environmental Prize for extraordinary grass roots leadership on environmental issues. She and other Alaska Natives were in Washington in early November 2009 to lobby against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on offshore sites in Alaska. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)