U.S. to cancel Alaska oil and gas leases issued under Trump

The U.S. Interior Department said it would cancel oil and gas leases in a federal wildlife refuge that were bought by an Alaska state development agency in the final days of former President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Interior Department on Wednesday said it would cancel oil and gas leases in a federal wildlife refuge that were bought by an Alaska state development agency in the final days of former President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump’s Republican administration issued the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, seven leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a day before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat who had pledged to protect the 19.6 million-acre habitat for polar bears and caribou.

Environmentalists and an Alaska Indigenous group praised the move while a Republican Senator from Alaska slammed it. AIDEA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Interior also said it would protect 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23 million-acre area on the state’s North Slope that is the largest undisturbed public land in the United States. The agency would prohibit new leasing on more than 10 million acres, or more than 40% of the reserve.

“As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” Biden said in a statement. “Canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the previous administration in the Arctic Refuge and protecting more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic will help preserve our Arctic lands and wildlife, while honoring the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on these lands since time immemorial.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/us-cancel-alaska-oil-gas-leases-issued-trump-rcna103782

---