Biden plans temporary halt of oil activity in Arctic refuge [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

By BECKY BOHRER
3 minutes ago



FILE - This undated aerial file photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a herd of caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. President Joe Biden on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, signaled plans to place a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after the Trump administration issued leases in a remote, rugged area considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich'in. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP, File)


JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration announced plans Wednesday for a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after the Trump administration issued leases in a part of the refuge considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in.

The plans, along with other executive actions, came on Biden’s first day in office.

Issuing leases had been a priority of the Trump administration following a 2017 law calling for lease sales, said Lesli Ellis-Wouters, a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Alaska.

The agency held the first lease sale for the refuge’s coastal plain on Jan. 6. Eight days later, Ellis-Wouters said, it signed leases for nine tracts totaling nearly 685 square miles (1,770 square kilometers). The issuance of leases was not announced publicly until Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s last full day in office.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-us-news-alaska-wildlife-arctic-cdd89af06cb892e042782ace3abca8eb