In its push to open Alaskas pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to fossil fuel extraction, the Trump administration has significantly downplayed potential harm to the environment, including the risk of oil spills and the threat drilling would pose to polar bears, according to a new analysis by the Center for American Progress.

The Trump administrations goal is to get leases in the hands of the oil and gas industry, science and transparency be damned, said Kate Kelly, public lands director for the left-leaning CAP and a former interior official in the Obama administration.

The result of that particular focus is ultimately a dishonest look at the impacts that drilling would have on the refuge, its wildlife and the indigenous populations that rely on it for subsistence, she said.

Last month, the administration took a significant step toward opening large swaths of the remote refuge to fossil fuel production, releasing a report that calls for leasing to begin as early as this summer and details potential effects on the unspoiled landscape. The lengthy draft environmental impact statement one of former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke s final acts at the agency explores three alternatives that would make available for lease between 66 percent and 100 percent of the refuges 1.5 million-acre coastal plain.

The Trump administrations own analysis makes it clear that spills of oil and other substances are not only possible but likely.

The Bureau of Land Management report estimates that future development in the refuge could result in up to 1,745 oil spills by 2050, including six large events of at least 1,000 gallons. Additionally, the agency concludes that the probability of a spill over 100,000 gallons is low, noting that only three spills of that size were documented on the North Slope from 1985 to 2010.

But CAPs review suggests the federal governments estimate is far too conservative. The group points to a 2007 report by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that shows there were an average 448 spills per year on the North Slope from 1995 to 2005, with spills averaging 428 gallons or roughly 10 barrels. And since 2002 there have been 16 large oil spills in Alaska, five of them over 100,000 gallons, according to the Oil Spill Task Force.

The arctic refuge, considered one of Alaskas crown jewels and often described as Americas Serengeti, covers more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. It is home to polar bears, caribou, moose and hundreds of species of migratory birds. For years the refuge has been a battleground between environmentalists and fossil fuel interests. The GOP tax law passed by Congress in late 2017 included a provision, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that requires the Interior Department to approve at least two lease sales for drilling each covering no less than 400,000 acres.

The Trump administration has prioritized arctic refuge drilling as part of its energy dominance agenda. Even amid the current partial government shutdown that has left national parks around the country damaged and overflowing with trash and human waste , the Department of the Interior has found a way to continued that work, holding public meetings as part of its ongoing environmental review process, Alaska Public Media reported .