The Trump administration is opening up more drilling in a contentious Alaskan wildlife refuge that was restricted under the Biden administration.
It’s also approving two other contentious projects in Alaska: Ambler Road, which will enable copper and cobalt mining; and Izembek Road, which will cut through a wildlife refuge to give a remote community airport access.
The Interior Department said in a press release that it was issuing a final approval of a plan to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain for oil and gas development.
The Biden administration had limited the lands available to the 400,000 acres required by law.
The Trump administration also said that this coming winter, it will plan to auction off drilling rights there.
Opponents of such drilling have raised concerns about impacts to wildlife and tribal resources as the refuge is home to grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, caribou and more than 200 species of birds and contains land considered sacred by the Gwich’in people.
However, drilling also has native proponents, who argue that oil and gas could help support the local economy.
“Developing ANWR’s Coastal Plain is vital for Kaktovik’s future,” Nathan Gordon Jr., mayor of the village of Kaktovik, said in a written statement.
“Taxation of development infrastructure in our region funds essential services across the North Slope, including water and sewer systems to clinics, roads, and first responders. Today’s actions by the federal government create the conditions for these services to remain available and for continued progress for our communities.”
In addition, the Trump administration said it reissued the necessary permits to approve the Ambler Road project, which would provide mining access to an area with deposits of minerals including copper, cobalt, gallium and germanium.
The White House has described the project as being “in the public interest” because of the need for “domestic critical minerals.”
The Biden administration had blocked the project, saying it was doing so to protect wildlife including the Western Arctic caribou herd.
The Trump administration also reapproved another road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that would connect the remote community of King Cove to an airport — which supporters argue could be important for medical evacuations.
It was first approved by the Trump administration in 2019 but later rescinded by the Biden administration, which cited “procedural flaws.”
The move was met with pushback by environmental advocates and others.
“I worry every day about what’s going to happen to the brant and emperor geese if there’s a road in Izembek,” Chief Edgar Tall Sr. of the Native Village of Hooper Bay said in a written statement. “We need the brant and emperor geese because they’re nutritious and fatty from feeding in Izembek. … If the birds disappear because of the Izembek road, our community could disappear too.”
