Trump auction of oil leases in Arctic refuge attracts barely any bidders

[Judi Lynn]

The lease sales will not cover Republicans’ proposed tax cuts as promised.

By
Anagha Srikanth | Jan. 8, 2021

It was a grand plan proposed by the Trump administration: auction off drilling rights in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), using the money from the leases to pay for proposed tax cuts for corporations.

But after a mad dash to make the sale before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in less than two weeks, the federal government’s efforts fell short.

“This lease sale was an epic failure for the Trump administration and the Alaska congressional delegation,” Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, told The Guardian. “After years of promising a revenue and jobs bonanza they ended up throwing a party for themselves, with the state being one of the only bidders.”

Against opposition from environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, a Republican-led Congress voted to allow drilling in the federally owned ANWR for the first time in 2018 as part of its Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. But after every major bank in the U.S. ruled out financing oil and gas exploration in the ANWR, only three companies bid for just half the acres up for sale. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority won nearly every bid in a sale that raised just $14.4 million dollars, roughly $27 per acre, reported The Hill.

More:
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/energy/533350-trump-auction-of-oil-leases-in-arctic-refuge-attracts

[TomDaisy]

1. it would be corporate suicide

[Eyeball_Kid]

2. It's got to be common knowledge that Biden will nullify the contracts before drilling begins. n/t

[mr_lebowski]

3. It's only an epic fail if you actually believe a pathological liar WRT his motivation(s)

Which *I*, for one ... do not.

"The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority won nearly every bid in a sale that raised just $14.4 million dollars, roughly $27 per acre, reported The Hill."

Do we think the tax cuts are going to magically go away because not enough money was raised to 'support them'? I tend to doubt that. And since when do Repukes care to 'pay for' ... tax cuts for corporations?

Which leads me to wonder who this group actually is.

And how much these leases are REALLY worth.

[Thekaspervote]

4. If dotard were the business man he claims he might have at least googled it and found this:

In today’s oil glut environment there’s little to no profit in drilling for oil that is yes plentiful there, but very hard to reach.

Dotard..it’s called supply and demand