In one fell swoop, nearly 7% of Alaska’s lands have been locked up by the Biden-Harris Administration.
The announcement from the Bureau of Land Management came in the afternoon on Tuesday, locking up 28 million acres of lands and waters, and implementing what the administration called “maximum protections” for 13 million aces in the western Arctic, including 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea, placing the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits to new oil and gas leasing. The order prevents the Ambler Road from being able to be built to the state’s mining area at Ambler. The access to that area is guaranteed by federal law passed by Congress.
The order today also shrunk the pool of land that Alaska Native Vietnam veterans have available to fulfill their promised land allotments. Instead of being able to select from 28 million acres, they are now limited to 100,000 acres to choose from — less than 2% of the land that the Trump Administration had given them.
About 1,900 aging Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans are eligible to select their 160-acre land entitlement under the Dingell Act.
The Biden-Harris public land order land grab will be recorded in the Federal Register on Thursday, the administration said.
Congressional candidate Nick Begich responded immediately to the attack on Alaska:
“LOCKING UP ALASKA: The Democrats have done it again. This time they are locking up another 10% of the entire state of Alaska, crushing hopes for Ambler, and robbing us of our ability to sustain and grow our own economy. Unfortunately, Mary Peltola has proven to be an irrelevant voice, completely ineffective at stopping her side of the aisle from their continued attacks on our state. Alaska must fight back with every tool it has available to restore access to this land and make it available to Alaska Native Vietnam veterans, villages, and other communities. In Congress, I will fight for Alaskans and do all I can to ensure that Alaska is not continuously steamrolled by the radical left,” he said.
This story will be updated shortly.
