Biden administration reduces the amount of land that may be drilled in the Arctic reserve for oil and gas exploration

On Monday, the Biden administration announced that it will revert to an Obama-era plan that would allow the government to lease up to 52 percent of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve for oil and gas exploration. It overturns the Trump administration’s decision to open up 82 percent of the reserve.

The action comes after the Bureau of Land Management awarded the fewest oil and gas licenses for drilling on public lands since the Biden administration began earlier this year.

In June of last year, the Biden administration canceled oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, unraveling a key milestone of Trump’s presidency and fulfilling President Biden’s vow to protect the fragile Alaskan tundra from fossil fuel extraction.

The highest bidder for oil and gas leases in an Alaska wildlife refuge was an Alaska state corporation. It filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, saying that it took illegal actions to prevent the drilling parcels from being developed.

In November 2021, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority filed a federal court complaint in Anchorage alleging that during President Donald Trump’s final days in office, the Biden administration arbitrarily and capriciously suspended work on seven tracts the agency leased in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Alaska National Petroleum Reserve is a 23-million-acre tract on the state’s north slope. While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had earlier stated that it had chosen the Obama administration’s proposal as its “preferred alternative” for further consideration, it announced on Monday that it would return to the Obama-era plan.

To confront the climate catastrophe and put an end to new fossil fuel exploitation, reversal isn’t enough. Biden officials have the ability and responsibility to help us prevent catastrophic climate change and assist the transition to an equitable, green economy.

More Arctic drilling means more oil spills, contaminated towns, and harm to polar bears and other endangered wildlife, according to Kristen Monsell, the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans legal director. The administration justified its decision by claiming that it would better preserve the environment while still allowing for energy development.