Biden Administration to Reverse Oil Lease Expansion in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced yesterday that the agency will reverse plans by the previous administration to expand oil leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). The agency also said it will include stipulations in any new plans to protect threatened and endangered species.

“The Trump administration opened most of the Reserve’s 22 million acres to oil and gas drilling despite the implications for the climate crisis and for wildlife, including threatened polar bears that den in the Reserve,” said Defenders of Wildlife’s Alaska Program Director, Nicole Whittington-Evans. “This is a welcome rejection of that move and a first step toward fundamentally changing the Reserve’s management from abetting a climate and biodiversity catastrophe to one of responsible stewardship that protects wildlife and local subsistence activities.”

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Debbie Tubridy

If confirmed in a new record of decision (ROD), this preferred alternative would revert management of the NPR-A to the 2013 IAP, while including specific more protective lease stipulations and operating procedures for threatened and endangered species from the 2020 IAP.
 
“This decision reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s priority of reviewing existing oil and gas programs to ensure balance on America’s public lands and waters to benefit current and future generations,” stated BLM on its website.