The 23 million-acre petroleum reserve on the North Slope was set aside as an emergency oil supply, originally for the U.S. Navy, by President Warren Harding.
In 1976, in accordance with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, administration of the reserve was transferred to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and renamed the NPR-A.
President Joe Biden is on the verge of locking down half of it, making it unavailable for oil and gas development. He intends to do so with a new rule that is proposed by the Biden Administration through the Bureau of Land Management, a division of the Department of Interior. The pubic comment period has ended, and the rule will be finalized soon.
Rep. Mary Peltola endorses Biden’s reelection and has had no apparent willingness or ability to reverse the impending economic damage to Alaska.
“The initiative, set to be finalized within days, marks one of the most sweeping efforts yet by Biden to limit oil and gas exploration on federal lands. It comes as he seeks to boost land conservation and fight climate change — and is campaigning for a second term on promises to do more of it,” Bloomberg reported.
While the Willow project would not be affected, this new rule appears to be more extensive than originally proposed by the Biden Administration. It threatens to make it nearly impossible to economically develop another Willow-sized project.
“That’s spooking oil companies with holdings in the National Petroleum Reserve, which — along with the rest of Alaska’s North Slope — was viewed as a major growth engine for the industry before the shale boom. Interest has surged again in recent years, fed by mammoth discoveries. Tapping the region’s reservoirs could yield decades of production,” Bloomberg reported.
“Company executives and Alaska lawmakers have increasingly raised alarm over the plan, saying it could thwart oil and gas development across much of the reserve, even on existing leases. The opposition has united a broad spectrum of foes, from Alaska Natives to lower-48 oil producers,” the news agency said.
The opposition includes Santos, which has leases on more than one million acres in the NPR-A and is developing the Pikka Unit as a joint venture with Repsol. Santos said in a letter to the Bureau of Land Management that the rule is going to mean entire projects being denied.
“ConocoPhillips, which has 156 leases in the reserve, warned the regulation would violate its contracts and “drive investment away from the NPR-A.” And Armstrong Oil & Gas Inc., whose leases there span 1.1 million gross acres, said the measure could block it from building the infrastructure needed to access those tracts,” Bloomberg said.
The new regulation would limit future oil development in some 13 million acres (20,000 square miles) of designated “special areas,” including territory currently under lease. Some 10.6 million acres would be completely locked down.
But wait, there’s more: “The proposal would create a formal program for expanding protected areas at least once every five years — while making it difficult to undo those designations. And it would raise the bar for future development elsewhere in the reserve,” Bloomberg reported in a story that is behind its paywall.
Why does Biden get to dictate Alaska’s economy and infrastructure?
Yes where are states rights?
We should use some funds to go to blue states and stop any construction or ground disturbances that affect the environment.
Tie it up in courts and make sure no state has any no projects to be done.
Because the federal government under Carter and Clinton seized our lands.
More, we rolled over and allowed it.
MA; President Theodore Roosevelt did the most seizing in the Territory of Alaska 😉
It was Clinton and Carter who crippled our economy.
He’s doing it to help Lisa M
The ads for Mary Peltola were paid for by Conoco Phillips. They ran them through Center Forward, a SuperPAC that supports democrats. Center Forward received only 2 donations in 2023, one for $100,000 from Chevron and one for $300,000 from Conoco Phillips. The ad buy for Mary Peltola is exactly $300,000. Meanwhile, Biden is destroying their ability to develop NPR-A.
Newsflash to Conoco: never make a deal with the Democrats. They don’t want oil and gas.
What?! Republicans bent over backwards in this state to move development and make low taxes for these grifters! Time to raise the rent!!
Tara Sweeney is Conoco’s government affairs person. She is personal friends with Peltola.
8th. At the Juneau airport bathroom, I peed next to Senator Murkowski. Doesn’t make me a republican.
Lay down with dogs and you’re going to get flees
Don’t ever discount the Biden Voter.
… Your neighbor
… Your coworker
… Your family member
… Daddy’s Little Princess
“ALL” working feverously to lock-up AK907!
“ALL” working feverously to stifle economic prosperity!
Lisa can’t vote for Trump but has no problem with supporting Biden’s picks to run Alaska. She also like Democrat Mary in Congress and both Washington State Senators who support this. Yeah, when there is no more money for the State from royalties, she will be getting her Federal Pension. Can’t leave her personal feelings out of what is best for the State.
Ordinarily I’d hate to say I told you so, but not in this case.
I’ve been saying Grandpa Bloodstains will never allow that patch to be developed.
And well…
Alaska is the feds ace in the hole. When times get tough and the trillions of dollars in federal T-bills come due, the feds will pimp Alaska out like a 20 dollar hooker. Expect China to show up and extract every dollar of oil and minerals for repayment of the T-bills they hold. Typical democrats helping out their communist brethren. Don’t forget 10% for the “big guy”. /s
Don’t you think we should pay up?
Herman; Alaska is not sovereign.
No but many of its own think they are.
Part of the plan to strip the US of manufacturing, farming, mining, oil production, and refining. The US will make nothing and you will own nothing.
Jim Collman. Fascinating claim! Who is behind this plan? Why do you lumps all these industries together?
The same “Who” that is pushing for castration and puberty blockers, paying for chaos (i.e., peaceful protests), sending military-age men across the open borders, co-producing the Virus, flying intel balloons overhead, purchasing farmland near military sites, and supplying the Cartel with Fentanyl and Fentanyl ingredients.
The strategy lumps all the industries together.
Fear 1. Proof 0.
Yeah, but Lisa Murkowski is so proud of her daddy Joe. Locking up Alaska land is so much fun.
It was President Trump who stopped pebble from being developed with Army Corp. of Engineers permit denial plus Northern dynasty’s fraud conviction will not help in their law suit against federal government.
Summarize; Trump, not Senator Murkowski locked up thousands of acres of Alaska lands..
3rd. I reject the term “lockup”. The ultimate lock up of land is when public land is privatized. Currently federal land is open to nearly all users. Develop state land Pebble (to follow your example) and it has one use and the others are illegal.
Shhhhhh. They didn’t know that
You mean, they don’t want to know that 😉
Correct.
Democrats, progressives, liberals, leftists……. it doesn’t matter what name they use. What matters is that they’re by far the only ones that seem he** bent on costing the American citizen more and more money. Every time they open their mouths to distract you, they dig deeper into your pockets. I seriously have a deep disdain for them.
Everyone has to put something in the kitty. Otherwise you are just another socialist colony wanting freebies.
Not only are Alaska’s sovereign rights being diminished. The power for Alaska to generate funds for running our great state is being chiseled away. Someone needs to question what Biden is doing to our military. Seems as if there is a great “Weakening” happening via the Biden administration.
The land belongs to the Native Americans