Oil and gas leasing program within Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge approved
MARK THIESSEN,
Associated Press•August 17, 2020
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Department of the Interior on Monday approved an oil and gas leasing program within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the sprawling home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the Record of Decision, which will determine where oil and gas leasing will take place in the refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land on Alaska’s north shore with the Beaufort Sea.
“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have taken a significant step in meeting our obligations by determining where and under what conditions the oil and gas development program will occur,” Bernhardt said in a statement.
Congress approved the program in 2017, and the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in December 2018 concluded drilling could be conducted within the coastal plain area without harming wildlife.
“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Alaska’s forty-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation’s new energy frontier,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.
The Republican governor called Monday’s decision “a definitive step in the right direction to developing this area’s energy potential,” which he estimated at 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves.
Environmental groups immediately assailed opening the refuge and promised litigation.
“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court,” said Lena Moffitt with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign.
“Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left,” Adam Kolton, Executive Director at Alaska Wilderness League, said. “And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it.”
US Interior Dept approves oil drilling in Arctic refuge
Steven C. AMSTRUP,
AFP•August 17, 2020
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to polar bears such as this one, photographed on sea ice northeast of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska
The US Department of the Interior approved oil and gas drilling on Monday in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that drilling leases could be auctioned off by the end of the year.
Environmental groups vowed to fight the move to allow drilling in the remote area of northeast Alaska which is home to polar bears, caribou and other animals.
"Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left," Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
"And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation's last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it."
The then Republican-held US House of Representatives and Senate approved oil leases in part of the vast federally-owned refuge three years ago.
"Congress gave us a very clear directive here, and we have to carry out that directive," Bernhardt said. "I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign."
With oil prices at 15-year lows and potential deposits unknown, it is unclear how much bidding interest there will be among the major oil companies.
"We will continue to fight this at every turn, in the courts, in Congress and in the corporate boardrooms," said Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League.
"Any oil company that would seek to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks."
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