By RICK WHITBECK
On Wednesday, the Biden Administration Bureau of Land Management announced the terms of its upcoming lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain.
And, in what should be seen by Alaskans as one last middle finger on their way out of Washington, D.C., the administration’s attack on our state’s resource development community was furthered by the release.
Let’s step back in time and remember what happened following the previous lease sale from late 2019. Nine total tracts were bid on, and fully-executed, legally-binding contracts completed. But, when the Biden administration came in, they paused any activities related to ANWR development.
After three years of delay, they ended up canceling the leases altogether, citing “deficiencies” in the process. And, while those actions are currently being litigated by the leaseholders of seven of the nine tracts, the other two just gave up and remanded their contracts. That was a win for the environmental lobby, which has fought against ANWR development for decades.
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration noted it was obligated to hold the second lease, as part of Congress’ 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passage. With yesterday’s announcement, the BLM made clear it is doing so under terms designed to minimize — if not eliminate — interest by potential bidders.
The final order from BLM will offer leases for the bare minimum number of acres authorized by Congress — 400,000 — and includes additional limiting stipulations related to surface disturbance, seismic exploration and infrastructure footprint size.
None of these requirements should be a surprise to Alaskans, who have endured a whopping 68 attacks from Team Biden on the resource opportunities that drive our state’s economy. But the tenor of yesterday’s announcement, its limitations and, most importantly, the brazen exaggerations and outright lies included in the release,should infuriate each of us.
The exaggerations include the note of over 100,000 comments being made during the public comment periods, and how those helped influence the final scope and requirements. Let’s not think for a minute that 90% of those weren’t form letters, auto-generated by environmental groups and their surrogates, and not comments based by people who would actually be affected by ongoing exploration and development activities in the Arctic.
Another exaggeration? That industry doesn’t want to invest in developing the Coastal Plain. At the time of the previous lease sale, with Trump leaving and Biden arriving, industry knew the new administration was going to do its best to stifle ANWR development. Industry then knew that their efforts to bid and be awarded leases were likely to be embroiled in controversy and litigation, and chose – understandably – to sit that one out as a result.
Let’s not forget this is the same industry, however, that had funded efforts with groups like Arctic Power for decades, hoping to open the Coastal Plain to development. Make no mistake: the incoming Trump Administration will have not only their back, but also significant interest from industry in looking at ways to involve themselves in ANWR development.
Unfortunately, the poison pills that BLM announced yesterday might give the impression to industry that they should sit this next one out again, or at least wait until the Trump administration puts in place lease terms consistent with previous federal lease programs, and not designed to stifle investment and interest.
Therein lies the most egregious, foundational false-flagged argument in the announcement. In noting the final orders, BLM stated it had met with affected tribes and completed extensive consultations with them. However, their efforts have included only the Gwich’in people, who live hundreds of miles away from the Coastal Plain, and ignored the Iñupiat people most impacted by North Slope development.
North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak, who has clashed with the administration’s assertions that they’ve met their goals around tribal consultation, recently penned an op-ed, noting the Gwich’in’s asserted rights to the Coastal Plain are questionable. In it, he wrote:
“Let me be clear: the land in question is not, and has never been, Gwich’in territory. If there is a claim that their ancestors are buried here, that is a result of territorial wars that occurred in a bygone era; and victors aren’t buried.”
The administration has ignored the Iñupiat because their insistence that responsible development can occur hand-in-hand with traditional Native lifestyles is incongruent with the eco-left-driven assertions that resource extraction in the Arctic has no benefits, and is only harmful to the planet and the Indigenous people living there. One look no further than the tenfold increase in population of the Central Arctic caribou herd since oil began flowing in the 1970s. Their population has thrived, living amongst the development across the North Slope, and specifically in Prudhoe Bay.
With just over two months between now and the end of their reign of terror, we should expect nothing less than outright war from Team Biden on Alaska’s remaining resource projects.
Thankfully, we have President Donald J. Trump returning to office, and if his first term is any indication, Alaska will be on the forefront of unleashing American energy independence, dominance, and helping Make America Great Again.
Rick Whitbeck is the Founder and Lead Consultant at Power Performance Strategies, after serving as the Alaska State Director for a national nonprofit focused on energy opportunities the past six years. Contact him at [email protected].