Wall Street Is Bending to Pressure to Halt Arctic-Oil Loans (1)

The latest front in the war against drilling for oil in Alaska’s rugged wildlife refuge isn’t Washington -- it’s Wall Street.

Activists trying to keep rigs out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are now focused on choking off the flow of money needed to exploit the reserve. As big as South Carolina, it is home to caribou and grizzlies -- and possibly billions of barrels of oil.

The strategy is paying off. Morgan Stanley just ruled out financing Arctic oil and gas development, becoming the fifth major U.S. bank to announce it will no longer support drilling in one ...