The Trump administration on Thursday took a significant step toward opening Alaskas fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling with a report detailing potential environmental impacts on the unspoiled landscape.

The Interior Department issued a lengthy draft environmental impact statement exploring three alternatives that would make available for lease between 66 and 100 percent of the refuges 1.5 million-acre coastal plain. A fourth option would be to not allow oil and gas leasing, but the agency notes that that route would not comply with a provision in the tax law Republicans passed last year.

Republicans have long been fighting to open the refuges coastal plain, also known as the 1002 Area. The GOP tax law passed by Congress a year ago this week included a provision, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that requires Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve at least two lease sales for drilling each covering no less than 400,000 acres.

In a statement Thursday, the outgoing agency chief applauded President Donald Trump for giving Alaskans a voice again.

An energy-dominant America starts with an energy-dominant Alaska, and among the scores of accomplishments we have had at Interior under President Donald J. Trump, taking these steps toward opening the 1002 section of Alaskas North Slope stands out among the most impactful toward bolstering Americas economic strength and security, Zinke said.