Trump Auctions Off Arctic Refuge Land to Oil Companies
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, January 14, 2020 (ENS) – The Trump administration has begun to auction off roughly one-third of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling. It is no coincidence that this lease sale was announced with only a few weeks left in the Trump presidency, as President Donald Trump is eager to kickstart Arctic oil drilling before leaving the White House on January 20.
The refuge is home to some of the most diverse and spectacular wildlife in the Arctic, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. “The refuge’s rich pageant of wildlife includes 42 fish species, 37 land mammals, eight marine mammals, and more than 200 migratory and resident bird species,” the USFWS says.
Brian Adams
Decades of legal action, speculation and political wrangling over drilling on the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge culminated in an underwhelming lease sale on Jan. 6. Only three parties placed bids for drilling rights on the land on the state’s North Slope, which is considered crucial habitat for the Porcupine caribou herd. The sale garnered about $14 million, according to the Bureau of Land Management much less than a 2017 Congressional Budget Office estimate, which projected that two lease sales in the refuge would collectively amass $2.2 billion. (Other organizations’ estimates were much lower.)
Only half of the 22 available land tracts received bids at all. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), a state-owned economic development corporation, snagged nine of them, and two small private companies won one each. AIDEA’s bids were unprecedented; while the publicly owned corporation has financed loans for natur
The Trump administration is trying to force banks to make loans to gun-makers and to finance payday lenders. Critics call the move bizarre. It's opposed by watchdog groups and banks.
Trump Regulator s Rule Would Force Banks To Lend To Gun-Makers And Oil Drillers
The Trump administration is trying to push through a last minute rule that could force banks to offer loans to gun-makers, oil exploration companies, or to finance high-cost payday lenders.
The move follows announcements by the biggest U.S. banks that there are some industries and activities they don t want to finance, such as drilling for oil in Alaska s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or making loans to gun manufacturers who make assault-style weapons. Some major banks have sworn off making those loans. Now, a Trump-appointed banking regulator is pushing for a rule that considers that an unfair discriminatory practice.
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