Alaska Spends Cool $3 Million on Arctic Oil Campaign

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The government of Alaska has signed a $3 million contract with the Oregon-based PR firm Pac/West Communications, for a campaign promoting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Pac/West president and CEO Paul Phillips told PR Week that market research is currently being conducted on where "the issue sits with the American people, with all the other discussion about energy floating around these days." The Alaskan government also allocated $750,000 for lobbying, in addition to the efforts of the business lobby group, Arctic Power. Pac/West staff are busy on other campaigns, too. Former timber industry lobbyist and current Pac/West director Tim Wigley is the campaign director of the Save Our Species Alliance, which aims to weaken the provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.