U.S. approves oil, gas leasing plan for Alaska wildlife refuge

The Trump administration on Monday tookanother step to opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling for oil and gas, potentially fulfilling a decades-long dream for Republicans.

Environmentalists, however, promised to fight opening up thecoast plain of the refuge, a 1.56-million acre swath of land along Alaska's northern Beaufort Sea coast home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife after the Department of the Interior approved anoil and gas leasing program.

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the Record ofDecision, which will determine a program for where oil and gas leasing will take place in the refuge's coastal plain.

"The establishment of this program marks a new chapter inAmerican energy independence," Bernhardt said during a conference call with reporters.

"Years of inaction have given away to an informed and determinedplan to responsibly tap ANWR's energy potential for the American people for generations to come," he said.

President Trump insisted Congress include a mandate providing forleasing in the refuge in a 2017 tax bill.

Over the last four decades, Republicans have attempted to openthe refuge to drilling. President Bill Clinton vetoed a Republican bill to allow drilling in 1995, and Democrats blocked a similar plan 10 years later.

The Interior's Bureau of Land Management in December 2018concluded drilling could be conducted within the coastal plain area without harming wildlife.The Democratic-controlled U.S. House voted in September 2019 to reinstate the decades-long ban on oil and gas drilling in ANWR.

"Today's announcement marks a milestone in Alaska's 40-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation's new energy frontier," Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement.

The Republican governor called Monday's decision "a definitivestep in the right direction to developing this area's energy potential," which he estimated at 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves.

Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a statement that thenew opportunity offered by opening the coastal plain "is needed both now, as Alaskans navigate incredibly challenging times, and well into the future as we seek a lasting economic foundation for our state.

"Through this program, we will build on our already-strongrecord of an increasingly minimal footprint for responsible resource development."

'Shameless sell-off'

Environmental groups immediately assailed opening the refuge andpromised litigation.

"The Trump administration's so-called review process for theirshameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We'll see them in court," Lena Moffitt with the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, said in a statement.

Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow with the Center for AmericanProgress, said the Interior decision won't stand.

"The environmental analysis underpinning this decision is solaughably indefensible that either the courts or a future presidential administration will have no trouble tossing it in the dustbin of history," Lee-Ashley said in a statement.

Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice-president at the AmericanPetroleum Institute, said the Interior's rigorousenvironmentalreview process confirms the industry's ability to developresponsibly.

"The industry has a well-established record of safe andenvironmentally responsible development of Alaska's energy resources and has been recognized for its success in being respectful of Alaska's wildlife and surrounding communities," he said in a statement.

"Advancements in technology and commitments to environmental stewardship including for over 50 years in Alaska's Arctic have enabled America's oil and natural gas industry to safely meet decades of demand for affordable, reliable and cleaner energy."

8% of refuge open for development

Bernhardt, Secretary of the Interior, said the program should stand up to legal challenges orthe whims of future administrations.

"Congress has mandated these lease sales, and so they have to goforward in some regard. They can't just simply unduly delay, so that is a reality that Congress created," he said.

"And really, absent a change in the law, the question of whether or not there will be a program in ANWR has really been answered."

The decision makes the entire coastal plainarea, or 8 per centof the19.3-million-acre refuge, available for oil and gas leasing and potential development.

The plan includes protections for habitat and wildlife, theInterior said. This include no surface occupancy restrictions on nearly 360,000 acres and operational time limits on 585,400 acres.

Bernhardt said there will be at least two area-wide leasing salesof at least 400,000 acres each. The first will be held before Dec. 22, 2021, and the second by Dec. 22, 2024.