The Trump administration on Monday authorized a sweeping plan to sell drilling rights and spur oil development in Alaska’s rugged Arctic refuge, setting up a possible auction by the end of 2020 and a political clash if the president loses the November election.
The Interior Department’s decision approves oil leasing across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s entire 1.56-million-acre coastal plain -- an area the size of Delaware that’s home to polar bears and caribou. Though Congress earmarked the area for possible energy development in 1980, it has remained off-limits to oil drilling for decades.
“The establishment of this program is a major milestone,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview. “It’s not the end of the leasing process, but it is a very, very significant milestone.”
The decision sets the stage for the federal government to auction Arctic drilling rights in the final quarter of 2020 -- and a potential confrontation next year if President Donald Trump doesn’t win re-election. Democratic nominee Joe Biden said he’s “totally opposed” to drilling in the Arctic refuge, having called the idea a “big disaster” in a February town hall meeting.
Trump didn’t commit to a sale during a Monday interview on Fox News. “We are looking at it,” he said, before adding, “we did do ANWR.”
Congress mandated an Arctic oil and gas program three years ago, with a law requiring Interior to sell drilling rights and facilitate development in the coastal plain. Under the 2017 Republican tax law, the Interior Department must hold at least one auction of coastal plain oil leases before Dec. 22, 2021 and another by Dec. 22, 2024. Congress also required Interior to issue rights-of-way and easements necessary to support oil exploration and production.
Read the rest here: Bloomberg
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