Biden Administration to Suspend Oil Leases in Arctic Refuge--5th Update
June 01 2021 - 4:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Timothy Puko
WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration is putting a hold on oil
and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska,
the latest move in its effort to stop a first-ever oil-drilling
program in the pristine 19-million-acre wilderness.
The leases were approved in the waning days of the Trump
administration.
The Interior Department, which oversees the program and the
refuge, said it will start a deeper analysis of the environmental
impacts of drilling in the area.
The decision comes after President Biden, during his first week
in office, ordered a review citing "alleged legal deficiencies" in
the original leasing program and put in place a temporary
moratorium.
The decision was reported earlier by Politico.
The refuge -- a remote corner of northeast Alaska that is about
the size of South Carolina -- is home to polar bears and caribou
herds. It has been off limits to drillers, miners and other
developers for decades. Mr. Biden has sided with environmentalists
who say the area should remain pristine, protected wilderness.
However. Congress passed a mandate to lease oil rights in the
coastal plain of the refuge in its tax overhaul in 2017, when both
the House and Senate were in Republican control.
Former President Donald Trump's administration finished the
first lease sale just days before Mr. Trump left office,
potentially locking in those drilling rights even though no major
oil companies were among the bidders.
Mr. Biden called for a closer look at the Arctic refuge leasing
program in a Jan. 20 executive order in which the president said
the Trump administration's environmental review of the program was
inadequate.
In addition to reviewing the program, the order said the
Interior Department should, if necessary, conduct a new
environmental analysis of oil and gas development in the area.
Tuesday's decision follows a series of court arguments this
spring in which the Biden administration supported oil and mining
projects on federal land. That angered environmentalists who
supported Mr. Biden's campaign. But it mproved his standing with
some lawmakers in Western oil-producing states, whose support Mr.
Biden will need to get his nominees and initiatives through
Congress.
Among the projects supported by the Biden administration were
ConocoPhillips' Willow oil project in Alaska; the Resolution Copper
Mining project in Arizona by Rio Tinto PLC and BHP Billiton Ltd.;
and the Dakota Access Pipeline by Energy Transfer LP.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2021 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024