Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has introduced two measures that would allow oil production from the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a 1.5 million-acre swath that for decades has been a bone of contention between developers and environmentalists.

ANWR, which totals more than 19 million acres, has long been protected by federal law from oil exploration and development but there are frequent attempts to pass bills that would lift the ban in the so-called 1002 area, or the coastal plain. Congress approved drilling in the coastal plain in 1996 but the measure was vetoed by President Bill Clinton.

One of Murkowski's bills would require the government to lease 200,000 acres of the coastal plain within two years of the bill's passage. Infrastructure -- including roads, drill pads, airfields, pipelines and other facilities -- would be limited to 2,000 acres. Revenue from oil production would go to environmental mitigation along with federal deficit reduction, and part of the revenue also would pay for renewable and alternative energy development as well as environmental programs, according to a press release.

The second bill wouldn't let oil companies onto the refuge but would allow oil and gas production from the coastal plain through use of directional drilling from facilities on adjacent state land.

"While this compromise is not my first choice," Murkowski said in a prepared statement, I believe it's a reasonable alternative that should silence any potential controversy over ANWR development."

ANWR is considered the crown jewel of the environmental movement in the U.S., and conservation groups and their supporters have long fended off attempts to open the coastal plain for oil development. But the debate over exploration has heated up again as America's dependence of foreign oil has come into sharper focus with the recent unrest in the Middle East. The U.S. Geological Survey has long estimated the coastal plain to hold about 10.4 billion barrels of oil and 8.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Contact Patti Epler at patti(at)alaskadispatch.com.