On Day One of the Biden Administration, Joe Biden shot the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program dead.
Now, his administration is going to make sure it stays dead.
The Bureau of Land Management, a division of the Department of Interior with vast authority over Alaska federal lands, today announced a 60-day “public scoping period to assist in the preparation of a supplemental environmental impact statement for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program.”
The translation for that is: The Biden Administration is giving environmental extremists one more chance to kill any oil and gas development on the 1002 Area of ANWR, the coastal plain that was set aside for oil and gas.
In June, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland took the January moratorium and turned it into a suspension of all activities related to the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which had already been approved by the Trump Administration.
Governor Mike Dunleavy today reacted strongly:
“This announcement is another example of the Biden Administration attempting to shut down Alaska’s primary industry to appease radical environmental groups determined to turn our state into one big national park,” Dunleavy said.
“A supplemental EIS only serves to void the results of the environmental study that was already completed and found that oil and gas development in the 1002 area of ANWR, an area set aside for oil and gas exploration, can take place without harming the environment. Alaska is America’s energy warehouse and we can develop the resources in ANWR while protecting the refuge, because no one is more protective of our land and waters than Alaskans,” Dunleavy said.
All three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation were also highly critical of the move, which is designed to appease environmentalists.
