Over 1M acres of Alaska preserve open for oil, gas drilling

The Department of the Interior on Thursday said it would reopen 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to oil and gas leasing. The move reversed the Biden administration’s 2024 decision to reduce development to the statutory minimum, according to the department.

The coastal plain is one of the last untouched wilderness areas in America. It contains the calving ground of a caribou herd and the habitats of many other animals, including endangered polar bears, according to the National Wildlife Refuge Association.

The department also said it would restore other development leases canceled during the previous administration, and would make further tracts in the National Petroleum Reserve available in the coming months.

What other projects did the Interior Department approve in Alaska? The department agreed to a land exchange in which it gave lands from within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to the small town of King Cove. The residents wanted the lands to build a road to the nearest airport for emergency medical care, the department said.

The refuge is home to hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, as well as large mammals and five species of salmon. The road project could endanger some of the area’s 200,000 migratory birds, the National Wildlife Refuge Association said.

What is the history of the reserve? President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the Arctic National Wildlife Range in 1960 with a presidential order, and President Jimmy Carter expanded it in 1980 to roughly 20 million acres. Tapping oil and gas drilling on reserve has been a recurring debate over the years. In 1996, President Bill Clinton vetoed an entire budget bill passed by Congress over a provision that would have allowed oil drilling there.

Dig deeper: Read my report on a Canadian city’s fight against an order giving land to native tribes.