BREAKING: The Trump administration plans to open up part of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling via WSJ
-- The Trump administration on Monday authorized a sweeping plan to sell drilling rights and spur oil development in Alaska’s rugged Arctic refuge, setting up a possible auction by the end of 2020 and a political clash if the president loses the November election.
The decision sets the stage for the federal government to auction Arctic drilling rights in the final quarter of 2020 -- and a potential confrontation next year if President Donald Trump doesn’t win re-election. Democratic nominee Joe Biden said he’s “totally opposed” to drilling in the Arctic refuge, having called the idea a “big disaster” in a February town hall meeting.
The approach is meant to help buttress Trump’s Arctic oil plans that environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court, while making it harder for a future administration to reverse course. The Interior Department has acknowledged that its plans would affect large portions of critical habitat and denning areas for polar bears, including a dwindling Southern Beaufort Sea population. “The potential for injury or mortality could be high when developing new oil and gas projects in polar bear habitat,” Interior’s Bureau of Land Management said in an environmental analysis last year.
Under the approved plan, surface activity will be off-limits in 23% of the 1.56 million acres available for oil leasing. Timing limitations will be imposed on 37% of the area to help protect habitat and wildlife. Further site-specific limitations could be embedded in leases and future permits, Bernhardt said.
Some potential bidders, such as Oil Search Ltd., have recently pared operations as low crude prices and an epic downturn in fuel demand from the coronavirus spur companies to idle drilling rigs, shed staff and curtail new spending across the U.S.
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WSJ News Exclusive | Interior Secretary to Approve Oil Drilling in Alaska's Arctic RefugeThe Trump administration plans to approve an oil leasing program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, opening up the pristine, 19-million-acre wilderness to drilling for the first time and making it more difficult to unwind the decision should Democrats recapture the White House in November.
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