Biden approves oil lease sale, allowing drilling in Alaska’s Arctic refuge
The Biden administration has given approval for the sale of oil and gas leases in Alaska, leaving the door open for drilling in a portion of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Biden administration has approved plans for a sale of oil and gas leases in Alaska that leaves open the door for drilling in a portion of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The sale will be held Jan. 9, less than two weeks before President Joe Biden leaves office. It will include a fraction of the land total that was available for bidding roughly four years ago in a sale held during the Trump administration.
President-elect Donald Trump pledged during his latest run for the White House to expand oil drilling in the U.S., and he’s pointed to the passage of a 2017 law that enabled Monday's announcement as a highlight when it comes to Alaska policy.
The 2017 law mandated two lease sales by late 2024, but major oil companies sat out the first sale. The Biden administration reviewed the leasing program, and seven leases from the first sale ultimately were canceled.
It’s unclear. A lease sale is one step in a long process — one that can often get mired in litigation. There are ongoing lawsuits surrounding the first lease sale, and environmentalists have vowed to go to court to keep drilling out of the refuge.
There are other examples, too: the Biden administration's approval of the large Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, west of the refuge, has yet to be settled in the courts, nearly two years after it got the green light to proceed. The company behind Willow, ConocoPhillips Alaska, has been continuing work on the project in the meantime.
Once any leases are issued for the refuge,
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