The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a drilling program approved by the Trump administration and reviving a political fight over a remote region that is home to polar bears and other wildlife and a rich reserve of oil.
US: Interior Department suspends oil and gas leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
02 Jun 2021
The
Department of the Interior has suspended all activities related to the implementation of the
Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending completion of a comprehensive analysis under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Secretarial Order 3401 directs the Department to initiate a comprehensive environmental analysis to review the potential impacts of the Program and to address legal deficiencies in the current leasing program’s environmental review under NEPA. The Department is notifying lessees that it is suspending oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge, pending the review, to determine whether the leases should be reaffirmed, voided, or subject to additional mitigation measures.
By Press Association 2021
This undated aerial photo provided by US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska
The Biden administration has reversed a Donald Trump-era drilling programme by suspending oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The order by interior secretary Deb Haaland follows a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities imposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office.
Mr Biden’s January 20 executive order suggested a new environmental review was needed to address possible legal flaws in a drilling programme approved by the Trump administration under a 2017 law enacted by Congress.