One long-standing idea is to create a large wildlife refuge in areas that will eventually be tapped for bitumen.
On Kodiak nearly everyone fishes, including the island's huge brown bears, which roam a renowned wildlife refuge.
He was particularly critical of congressional resistance to authorizing oil exploration in a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, known as ANWAR.
Continued Rumsfeld: "These oppressed Iraqi oil Wells deserve the right to pump oil as freely as any other oil well on God's Earth-be it in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, or an Alaskan wildlife refuge."
