“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge faces its biggest threat yet.”
That s the warning issued by the National Audubon Society on Tuesday a day before the Trump administration is set to sell oil and gas leasing rights in the refuge s coastal plain, a biodiversity hotspot of critical importance to the Gwich in people and dubbed America s Serengeti.
Bids were submitted by the end of 2020. It s not clear, however, which oil or gas companies, if any, sought leases.
The Bureau of Land Management has “received interest” in leases, the Anchorage Daily News reported. That interest may have come solely from the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which voted unanimously last month to spend as much as $20 million on the leases. “It s a way for the state to make sure the land is set aside for oil development in case no one else bids on the leases,” as Alaska Public put it.
Marcia Jean Boutang (1945-2019) Robert Dale Boutang (1941-2020)
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu s Alaska journey | | frontiersman com
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2020 tests limits of Arctic adaptation December 31st, 2020 |
1. Arctic struggles with pandemic and its impacts to education, health
Across the Arctic, as well as the state, nation and globe, the dominant story of 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic. For rural Alaska, however, the pandemic brought back memories of the Spanish flu, which decimated many in Alaska s Native villages, in some cases leaving only a handful of survivors.
While the state braced for impact shortly after spring break, closing schools, restaurants and many service industries and limiting travel between communities, rural Alaska did not see immediate outbreaks, despite fears that prompted many communities to restrict travel and require testing and quarantines for all people arriving via air.