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Restrictions on AK Petro Rese 04/19 05:31
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict
new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal
petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar
bears as the Arctic continues to warm.
The decision -- part of an ongoing, yearslong fight over whether and how to
develop the vast oil resources in the state -- finalizes protections first
proposed last year as the Biden administration prepared to approve the
controversial Willow oil project.
The approval of Willow drew fury from environmentalists, who said the large
oil project violated Biden's pledge to combat climate change. Friday's decision
also cements an earlier plan that called for closing nearly half the reserve to
oil and gas leasing.
A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan,
jumped out ahead of Friday's announcement about drilling limitations in the
National Petroleum-Reserve Alaska even before it was publicly announced.
Sullivan called it an "illegal" attack on the state's economic lifeblood, and
predicted lawsuits.
"It's more than a one-two punch to Alaska, because when you take off access
to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot
explore, you cannot move it -- this is the energy insecurity that we're talking
about," Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said.
The decision by the Interior Department doesn't change the terms of existing
leases in the reserve or affect currently authorized operations, including
Willow.
In an olive branch to environmentalists, the Biden administration also
Friday recommended the rejection of a state corporation's application related
to a proposed 210-mile (338-kilometer) road in the northwest part of the state
to allow mining of critical mineral deposits, including copper, cobalt, zinc,
silver and gold. There are no mining proposals or current mines in the area,
however, and the proposed funding model for the Ambler Road project is
speculative, the Interior Department said in a statement.
Sullivan accused the administration of undermining U.S. national security
interests with both decisions. Alaska political leaders have long accused the
Biden administration of harming the state with decisions limiting the
development of oil and gas, minerals and timber.
President "Joe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing energy and
dominating the world's critical minerals while shutting down our own in
America, as long as the far-left radicals he feels are key to his reelection
are satisfied,'' Sullivan said Thursday at a Capitol news conference with 10
other GOP senators. "What a dangerous world this president has created."
Biden defended his decision regarding the petroleum reserve.
Alaska's "majestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable
and healthy landscapes in the world," are critical to Alaska Native communities
and "demand our protection," he said in a statement.
Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iupiat, a group whose
members include leaders from across much of Alaska's North Slope region, has
been critical of the administration's approach. The group's board of directors
previously passed a resolution opposing the administration's plans for the
reserve.
The petroleum reserve -- about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge -- is home to caribou and polar bears and provides
habitat for millions of migrating birds. It was set aside around a century ago
as an emergency oil source for the U.S. Navy, but since the 1970s has been
overseen by the U.S. Interior Department. There has been ongoing, longstanding
debate over where development should occur.
Most existing leases in the petroleum reserve are clustered in an area
that's considered to have high development potential, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the Interior Department. The
development potential in other parts of the reserve is lower, the agency said.
The rules announced Friday would place restrictions on future leasing and
industrial development in areas designated as special for their wildlife,
subsistence or other values and call for the agency to evaluate regularly
whether to designate new special areas or bolster protections in those areas.
The agency cited as a rationale the rapidly changing conditions in the Arctic
due to climate change, including melting permafrost and changes in plant life
and wildlife corridors.
Environmentalists were pleased.
"This huge, wild place will be able to remain wild," Ellen Montgomery of
Environment America Research & Policy Center said.
Jeremy Lieb, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the administration had
taken an important step to protect the climate with the latest decision.
Earthjustice is involved in litigation currently before a federal appeals court
that seeks to overturn Willow's approval.
A decision in that case is pending.
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