Washington: US President Joe Biden’s administration announced Wednesday that it is banning new oil and gas drilling over a vast area of Alaska that is home to iconic wildlife.
The move comes just over a year before the 2024 election, as Biden seeks to shore up his green credentials, which were damaged by a decision earlier this year to greenlight a project by US energy giant ConocoPhillips in the same area.
The ban covers 10.6 million acres (4.3 million hectares), or 40 percent, of the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), ecologically important areas for grizzly and polar bears, caribou, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.
“Alaska is home to many of America’s most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas,” Biden in a statement said.
The U.S. Interior Department said it is also canceling seven remaining oil and gas leases that were approved under former President Donald Trump in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which lies east of NPR-A, also on Alaska’s North Slope.
Biden undermining US energy security
Two Republican senators have fired back at the White House, saying Biden is undermining US energy security.
Senator Lisa Murkowski has said these decisions are illegal, reckless, and defy all common sense.
House Democrat Mary Peltola also said she was “deeply frustrated” by what she described as the Biden administration’s failure to listen to local desires.
While Biden’s plan said it would support the livelihoods of Alaska Natives, it was met with opposition from prominent members of North Slope communities.
“Our community fought hard to open up the Coastal Plains to oil and gas leasing,” said Annie Tikluk, the mayor of Kaktovik, referring to the voided leases.
“We are an economically underserved community and constantly looking for economic opportunities for our long-term sustainability.”
Biden has come under heavy fire from environmentalists for endorsing a massive ConocoPhillips oil project in NPR-A in March.
Project Willow, estimated to cost $8 billion to $10 billion, was approved under Trump and later supported by Biden, sparking national protests led by youth activists.
Observers said the announcements to protect more of the Arctic might be aimed in part at defusing some of the criticism leveled at Willow.
The plan would also limit, but not completely ban, drilling on an additional 2.4 million NPR-A acres.
It would ban drilling in about 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea, “ensuring that the entire United States Arctic Ocean will be off limits to new oil and gas leasing,” the Interior Department said in a statement.
During his presidential campaign, Biden pledged to stop all new leases of federal land and water — a promise he failed to keep.
Some observers say his decisions have been limited by adverse court rulings in the face of challenges led by Republican states and credit the administration with limiting the scope of new development.
His administration oversaw the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which earmarked nearly $400 billion to fight climate change.
A study published in the journal Science in July said the IRA would reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions from 43 to 48 percent below 2005 levels by 2035.
But that would still not meet the US goal of reducing emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
