A new environmental study recommends additional protections for wildlife, waterways and permafrost, with new rules for a legally mandated lease sale.
The Canning River, which flows on the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into the Beaufort Sea, is seen from the air on Aug. 23, 2015. The coastal plain of the refuge, through which the river flows, is the subject of new rules proposed by the Biden administration to minimize the environmental impact of legally mandated oil leasing there.
Freeman noted that the 2021 lease sale drew little industry interest. Nonetheless, “It’s going to be the fight of our lives to keep the Arctic Refuge protected from development,” he said. One major difference is the limit on the areas within the coastal plain that may be leased. Under the new preferred plan, tracts offered for leasing would be concentrated in the northern and western part of the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain; much of the eastern and southern area is withheld from leasing because of use by the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
The exact date of the lease sale to be held is yet to be determined. It would follow the next step in the administrative process, which is the issuance of a formal document called a “record of decision” that makes the choice final. The record of decision will come no earlier than 30 days after the notice of the supplemental environmental impact statement is published in the Federal Register. Publication is scheduled for Friday, the BLM said.
In a statement, the Neets’ąįį Gwich’in Tribal governments of Arctic Village and Venetie, Gwich’in Athabascan communities near the southern edge of the refuge, renewed their call to permanently ban oil development in the refuge.
Energy & Mining Environment Federal Government Alaska Industrial Development And Export Authority ANWR Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Biden Administraiton Cooper Freeman Kaktovik U.S. Bureau Of Land Management
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