Trump Administration Approves Arctic National Wildlife Refuge For Land Leasing, Oil Drilling

The Trump administration continues to roll back environmental protections and opening doors for the fossil fuel industry in hopes of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign fuels even as those policies put the environment at risk.

Monday was more of the same as U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced that an oil leasing program was approved that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have taken a significant step in meeting our obligations by determining where and under what conditions the oil and gas development program will occur,” Bernhardt said in a press release.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the decision was a positive step for the state and would serve as a much-needed boon to its economy.

“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Alaska’s forty-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation’s new energy frontier,” Dunleavy said in a press release.

Alaska officials have pushed to open up the land in recent years in response to oil companies pulling out of the state. This was the result of a combination of protections imposed on federal lands and the boom in shale drilling in areas where natural gas is easier to hit and puts less surrounding land at risk.

Rollbacks in shale and natural gas drilling have only sped this up and opened up avenues for smaller and mid-size gas companies to grow. The most recent of these rollbacks came on Aug. 10 when the Environmental Protection Agency said companies would not be required to implement methane leak monitoring.

The land-lease program was originally approved in 2017 as part of a general tax overhaul by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress. Bernhardt said the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management began reviewing the program in 2018 to ensure drilling could be done in a manner that was safe and environmentally sound to the surrounding environment and animals residing in the region.

If oil is found, production would be able to start within eight years and could last for around 50 years.

“I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign,” Bernhardt said.

Despite Bernhardt and Dunleavy’s statements, environmental groups were immediately critical of the decision. They pointed to the damage that could be inflicted, regardless of how “benign” the process is, and the recent oil surplus resulting from the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on travel.

“Our climate is in crisis, oil prices are cratering, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left,” Alaska Wilderness League executive director Adam Kolton said in a press release. “And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it.

“This rush to drill would culminate in a fire sale of our nation’s most iconic wilderness.”

The Sierra Club echoed the Alaska Wilderness League's sentiment and even promised to challenge the leasing program in court.

“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start,” Sierra Club’s Lena Moffitt said. “We’ll see them in court.”