The Trump administration said on Monday that it planned to eliminate federal protections across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness, a move that would allow drilling and mining in some of the last remaining pristine wilderness in the country.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had exceeded its authority last year when it banned oil and gas drilling in more than half of the 23 million-acre area, known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
“We’re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track,” Mr. Burgum said in a statement.
But in 1976, Congress authorized full commercial development of the federal land and ordered the government to balance oil drilling with conservation and wildlife protection.
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In an effort to permit mining and drilling in some of the nation’s last pristine wilderness areas, the Trump administration announced Monday that it would remove federal protections across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness.
Last year, when the Biden administration prohibited oil and gas drilling in over half of the 23 million-acre region known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that the administration had overreached itself.
The planned repeal is a component of President Trump’s bold “drill, baby, drill” policy, which calls for the elimination of almost all environmental and climate protections as well as increased oil and gas extraction on public lands.
“We’re putting our energy future back on track and reestablishing equilibrium,” Mr. Dot Burgum said in a statement.
The Chukchi Sea to the west and the Beaufort Sea to the north enclose the ecologically delicate National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which is located roughly 600 miles north of Anchorage. It is the biggest piece of public land in the US. It includes vital habitat for caribou, grizzly and polar bears, thousands of migratory birds, and other wildlife.
The reserves were first established in the early 1900s with the intention of providing the Navy with fuel in an emergency. Congress did, however, authorize the full commercial development of federal land in 1976 and directed the government to strike a balance between oil drilling and wildlife protection and conservation.
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