Hours after former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, the Biden administration moved Wednesday to limit oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Oil drilling had been banned for decades in the Arctic refuge — a pristine natural region in northeast Alaska home to a wide range of threatened species. But a law passed during the first Trump administration required the federal government to hold two lease sales there for fossil fuel drilling. The first was in 2021 and was ultimately suspended and canceled by the Interior Department because of the lack of interest from the oil industry.
The Trump-era law required the second lease sale to be held before the end of 2024. The Biden administration signaled Wednesday it plans to move forward with a 400,000-acre auction — the lowest acreage it could legally offer.
It’s one of the many ways the White House and administration are trying to protect some of Biden’s biggest accomplishments while president, including his vast portfolio of action on climate change and the environment.
ANWR’s oil reserves are often mentioned by Trump in campaign rallies, as the president-elect has talked about opening parts of Alaska to oil drilling, or “liquid gold,” as Trump frequently calls it. Although President Joe Biden approved the major new Willow oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, his administration has also put in protections for a vast amount of Alaskan wilderness trying to limit drilling in other regions.
Wednesday’s move generated mixed feelings.
“Today’s action by the Biden administration better protects the Arctic Refuge, and for that, we are grateful,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. “The fight to save the Arctic Refuge is back, and we are ready for the next four years.”
But some Alaska Native groups said the move would hurt the local economy, which is highly dependent on revenue from drilling.
“It seems that once again the people of the North Slope are being told that our voices and lived experience are insufficient, and that federal laws passed by Congress mean little in the eyes of the Biden administration’s Department of the Interior,” North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak said in a statement.
