What is the problem with developing ANWR

The Artic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is a prime example of economics vs. environmental/sentimental issues. ANWR is “Renowned for its wildlife, Arctic Refuge is inhabited by 45 species of land and marine mammals, ranging from the pygmy shrew to the bowhead whale.” 80 million acres are designated as wilderness area. Currently the government doesn’t allow any development of resources on this refuge in fear of disrupting and hurting the migration pattern of the animals that occupy that space.
However, a recent survey done by the USGS found that ANWR was sitting on top of 5.7-16.0 billion barrels of oil. With 11.8 billion barrels able to be technically recovered. This means that there is a large oil reserve that we haven’t even tapped into yet.
This is where we come into a problem of economics vs. environmental groups. Many environmental groups suggest developing in this region will hurt the air quality, increase oil spills that will kill needed vegetation for those species inhabiting the region, and will force polar bears and muskoxs’ to leave. However, a testimony given to the House Committee on Resources by the Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton found that most of those concerns were invalid. He found that a study done by the National Academy of Science (NAS) showed that air quality didn’t decrease, spills rarely occurred and when they did they didn’t have an extensive impact on the environment. NAS also found that only one polar bear left the area do to seismic activity.
Yet, people still advocate no intrusion. Matthew Cronin suggests we look to the real life example of Prudhoe Bay. In 1968 many people argued that the development of these oil reserves would kill caribou and only produce at most 9 billion barrels of oil. Since then the caribou has grown phenomenally from 5,000 to 32,000. And the oil reserves have currently produced 13 billion barrels of oil and is still pumping.
So I guess what I would like to know is what is the real problem with developing these resources in Alaska. The land is barren and no one lives there. Damage to the environment is very minimal so economically I think we are losing out by standing by and not tapping into this natural resource.