Biden administration bars drilling on millions of acres in Alaska

The Biden administration is restricting drilling on millions of acres of government-owned lands in Alaska — and taking the penultimate step toward blocking a mining access road in the same state.

The administration announced Friday it would block off oil and gas drilling on 13 million acres in the Western Arctic that are part of an area known as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve, found in Alaska’s North Slope, was set aside in 1923 by President Harding as an emergency supply of oil for the Navy.

The area is also home to caribou herds, threatened and sensitive bird species, and other animals, including polar bears.

The administration also issued a document indicating that it would not approve a proposed industrial road through northwestern Alaskan wilderness toward deposits of copper and zinc — disrupting Ambler Metals’s effort to mine there.

The administration cited its finding that the road would significantly restrict activities for more than 30 Alaska Native communities. The Hill previously reported that the Biden administration had reached this decision Tuesday.

“Today’s historic actions to protect lands and waters in the western Arctic will ensure continued subsistence use by Alaska Native communities while conserving these special places for future generations,” White House adviser John Podesta said in a statement. 

“With these new announcements, the Biden-Harris administration has now protected more than 41 million acres of lands and waters across the country, leaving a huge mark on the history of American conservation,” he added.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) blasted the decision in a press conference Friday morning, accusing the Biden administration of empowering states such as Iran and China with the decision.

“The message this administration is sending to the dictators in Iran, China and Russia is this: We won’t use our resources to strengthen our country,” Sullivan said. “But you can use your resources to strengthen your country. Joe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing energy and dominating the world’s critical minerals while shutting down our own in America.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, took similar aim at the decision at the press conference and called the Ambler decision a gift to the Chinese rare-earth minerals industry.

“[Biden’s] going to mandate electric vehicles, but he’s saying, ‘You’re not going to get the key minerals you need in the United States to build those vehicles,'” Barrasso said. “So where are you going to go? Who has control right now? China.”

Kaleb Froehlich, managing director of Ambler Metals, said the company is “deeply disappointed by the Bureau of Land Management’s politically-motivated decision to block construction of the Ambler Access Project.”

“In doing so, the Department of the Interior is depriving Alaska Native communities of thousands of good-paying jobs and millions of dollars of badly needed tax revenues and economic investment, as well as preventing the United States from developing a domestic supply of minerals that are critical for clean energy technology and national security,” Froehlich added.

The Biden administration has a mixed record on energy and conservation issues in Alaska, most notably approving the Willow project last year — which will allow ConocoPhillips to drill in the state for about 30 years. 

That move was particularly controversial among progressives, who said the administration should not allow significant new oil infrastructure amid the transition away from fossil fuels. One day prior to that decision, the administration announced its proposed expansion of protections in the petroleum reserve that was finalized Friday. 

It reverses a Trump-era effort to open up significantly more of the area for drilling. 

The Biden administration’s move to bar the Ambler road’s construction technically is not final, as the government is required to wait at least 30 days before issuing a formal Record of Decision.  

The actions taken by the Biden administration have been opposed by Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation, with lawmakers arguing that the move will have negative impacts on the area’s economy, including for Alaska Native Corporations.

The moves were met with praise from many environmental and tribal advocates.

“The Biden Administration’s choice to reject the Ambler Road Project is a monumental step forward in the fight for Indigenous rights and environmental justice,” Chief Chair Brian Ridley of the Tanana Chiefs Conference said in a statement.

Updated at 10:04 a.m. EDT