A day after the outgoing Trump administration issued nine leases for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain, the incoming Biden administration moved to halt that exploration process.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Jan. 20, the Biden administration issued a list of day one executive actions, among them direction to the Interior Department to place a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in ANWR.
Bureau of Land Management officials representing the outgoing Trump administration signed and issued nine leases on Tuesday, Jan. 19 for oil and gas development on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain.
Seven tracts were awarded to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and one each to Knik Arm Services LLC and Regenerate Alaska Inc. a paltry sum according to Larry Persily, who had served as federal coordinator of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Project from 2010 through 2015. There were no bids on 11 other leases. AIDEA had bid on nine leases, but later opted to drop two.
Persily noted that even if the leases were issued before Trump left office on Jan. 20 that the new administration had the option to buy them back or just let them sit on the shelf.
No major oil and gas firms bid on any of the leases, in an area the U.S. Geologic Survey has estimated has nearly 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett cited the leases as “a solid commitment by both the state and industry to pursue responsible oil and gas development on Alaska’s North Slope in light of recent assessments,” cited as “a big step forward” by outgoing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, another Trump appointee.
Trustees for Alaska, the nonprofit public interest law firm representing the Gwich’in Steering Committee, said the BLM’s decision to issue the leases for lands sacred to the Gwitch’in shows little regard for human rights, indigenous ways of life, or the climate.
“We know that millions and millions of groups, businesses, elected officials and people around the world have voted to prevent drilling in the Arctic Refuge because they know the health of future generations and the planet demands it,” said Brook Brisson, senior staff attorney for the law firm. “Soon we will have our day in court to show once and for all that this administration broke the law when enacting its leasing plan and lease sale. Soon, today’s lease signing will be seen for what it is — another spectacle, like the lease sale itself, that defines an administration willing to violate human rights and the law to serve oil and gas industry interests, no matter the cost to human rights and human health.”
