{"id":18165,"date":"2024-04-20T12:47:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T12:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/biden-administration-bans-drilling-in-nearly-half-of-alaska-petroleum-reserve-in-sweeping-win-for-climate-advocates\/"},"modified":"2024-04-20T12:47:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T12:47:25","slug":"biden-administration-bans-drilling-in-nearly-half-of-alaska-petroleum-reserve-in-sweeping-win-for-climate-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/biden-administration-bans-drilling-in-nearly-half-of-alaska-petroleum-reserve-in-sweeping-win-for-climate-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden administration bans drilling in nearly half of Alaska petroleum reserve in sweeping win for climate advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a sweeping win for climate and environmental advocates, the Biden administration on Friday finalized a rule to ban fossil fuel <\/strong>drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, alongside other major conservation actions. <\/p>\n

The Interior Department will block oil drilling on over 13 million acres in the Western Arctic, including about 40% of the land of the NPR-A \u2013 a remote area that is home to protected animal species including polar bears and caribou. <\/p>\n

The reserve is more than 23 million acres of <\/strong>public land and an underground emergency oil supply for the US Navy that was designated <\/strong>in the early 1920s. More recently, it\u2019s become the site of the ConocoPhillips-owned Willow project, a\u00a0controversial oil drilling venture in the Arctic. <\/p>\n

When the Biden administration approved Willow in March 2023, it\u00a0sparked intense backlash among young people on social media, as well as environmental and climate groups. Friday\u2019s action could improve President Joe Biden\u2019s approval among young voters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese natural wonders demand our protection,\u201d Biden said in a statement. Biden said he was \u201cproud\u201d of his administration\u2019s move to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic, but added, \u201cas the climate crisis imperils communities across the country, more must be done.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some Alaska Natives are critical of the drilling ban across such a significant swath of the NPR-A. <\/strong>It has proved controversial with Alaska\u2019s bipartisan congressional delegation, as well as Alaska Native groups who say they depend on the tax revenue from oil drilling to fund schools and basic services. <\/p>\n

The final rule \u201cdoes not reflect our communities\u2019 wishes,\u201d said Voice of the Arctic I\u00f1upiat President Nagruk Harcharek, adding the move \u201cwill hurt the very residents the federal government purports to help by rolling back years of progress, impoverishing our communities, and imperiling our I\u00f1upiaq culture.\u201d <\/p>\n

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In addition to protecting a vast amount of the NPR-A on Friday, the Biden administration moved to block the Trump administration-approved Ambler road in the Alaskan wilderness. If built, the road would serve as the access point for a proposed copper mine. The administration signaled it wanted to take \u201cno action\u201d on the mine, effectively blocking the road\u2019s access to federal land. <\/p>\n

In a statement, Ambler Metals, the company seeking to mine copper in the region, said it was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d in Interior\u2019s decision. Ambler\u2019s managing director Kaleb Froehlich said the move would deprive local communities of jobs and tax revenue and prevent the US \u201cfrom developing a domestic supply of minerals that are critical for clean energy technology and national security.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Alaska announcements cap off a week that saw a flurry of actions from Biden\u2019s Interior Department. On Thursday, the department announced a new rule that elevated conservation to put it on equal footing as other public land uses like grazing, mining and other energy development. The new conservation rule covers 245 million acres largely in the Western United States \u2013 about a tenth of the land in the nation. <\/p>\n

Interior Sec. Deb Haaland said the administration\u2019s Alaska conservation announcements \u201cunderscore our commitment to ensure that places too special to develop remain intact for the communities and species that rely on them.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a statement, Haaland added the move would be big step to safeguard\u00a0\u201cthe way of life for the Indigenous people who have called this special place home since time immemorial.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Offshore wind projects have been dogged by inflation and culture wars. Now they\u2019re making a comeback<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Environmental groups and some indigenous groups applauded Biden\u2019s announcements on Alaska conservation as an \u201cimportant step.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that the Reserve \u2013 a vast region of tundra and wetlands teeming with wildlife \u2013 has frequently landed in the crosshairs of the insatiable fossil fuel industry,\u201d said Earthjustice attorney Jeremy Lieb in a statement. \u201cWe applaud this move and call for even bolder action to keep the fossil fuel industry out of the Arctic, for the sake of the climate and future generations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, the former mayor of the North Slope village of Nuiqsut, and a staunch opponent of Willow, called upon the Biden administration to build on the protections in a statement, saying it would help Alaska Natives \u201ccontinue to sustain and pass along the traditions and activities of our elders for years to come.\u201d <\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a sweeping win for climate and environmental advocates, the Biden administration on Friday finalized a rule to ban fossil fuel drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, alongside other major conservation actions. The Interior Department will block oil drilling on over 13 million acres in the Western Arctic, including about <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}