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U.S. NEWS Friday 4 december 2020

U.S. plans oil, gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic refuge

By BECKY BOHRER nate or comment on land portant resource for meet-
Associated Press in the refuge’s coastal ing our nation’s long-term
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — plain that could be part of energy demands and will
The U.S. Bureau of Land a sale. It said it also would help create jobs and eco-
Management plans to seek comments on wheth- nomic opportunities.”
hold an oil and gas lease er the size of any tracts of Kara Moriarty, president
sale for Alaska’s Arctic Na- land should be reduced and CEO of the Alaska Oil
tional Wildlife Refuge next and whether any should and Gas Association, said
month, weeks before Presi- receive special consider- companies are not likely to
dent-elect Joe Biden, who ations. discuss publicly any plans
has opposed drilling in the The agency said a notice to participate in a lease
region, is set to take office. that solicits bids would be sale for competitive rea-
Conservation groups published at least 30 days sons.
criticized Thursday’s an- ahead of the sale, which With the announced time-
nouncement as rushed it expects to hold on Jan. line, she said companies
and based on environ- 6. However, the comment will have less time to pre-
mental reviews that are period was not set to end pare bids. But she said the In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
being challenged in court until Dec. 17. area is not unknown. Service, caribou from the Porcupine Caribou Herd migrate
as flawed. The Bureau of Land Man- “It’s an area that people onto the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in
“Today we put the oil in- agement did not immedi- have been aware of ... for northeast Alaska.
dustry on notice. Any oil ately respond to requests over 40 years,” she said. Associated Press
companies that bid on for comment. The Trump administration within the National Petro- tion” to keeping oil flowing
lease sales for the coastal Its Alaska director, Chad has moved forward with leum Reserve-Alaska that through the trans-Alaska
plain of Arctic National Padgett, said in a news re- other oil and gas projects in Interior Secretary David pipeline for years to come.
Wildlife Refuge should lease that oil and gas from the state, including approv- Bernhardt said would make This fall’s decision is being
brace themselves for an the coastal plain “is an im- ing development plans “a significant contribu- challenged in court.q
uphill legal battle fraught
with high costs and reputa-
tional risks,” Jamie Rappa-
port Clark, president and
CEO of Defenders of Wild-
life, said in a statement.
Alaska’s Republican con-
gressional delegation cele-
brated the passage of leg-
islation in 2017 allowing for
drilling in the refuge’s 1.5
million-acre coastal plain,
seeing it as a way to boost
oil production, create jobs
and generate royalties.
The legislation called for at
least two lease sales to be
held within 10 years.
Alaska political leaders for
years pushed for opening
the area for exploration in
a state that relies heavily
on oil.
But the Indigenous
Gwich’in people have op-
posed development within
the refuge, citing concerns
about the effects on a car-
ibou herd that they have
relied on for subsistence.
Conservation groups also
have fought drilling in the
refuge.
In a lawsuit filed in August,
opponents alleged that
the Bureau of Land Man-
agement failed to ade-
quately consider potential
effects of a leasing pro-
gram on climate change,
polar bears, caribou and
other resources in its envi-
ronmental review.
Last month, the land agen-
cy announced a 30-day
period for parties to nomi-