The Interior Department inaugurated an amplified effort to harvest fossil fuels from the shorelines of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its adjacent National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, in line with former President Donald Trump’s ambitions for ‘American Energy dominance’. A contentious initiative often met with lacklustre responses from the leasing market, the intention is to take greater advantage of Alaska’s sizable yet mostly underutilised resources. The federal government had put many obstacles along the pathway to Alaska’s energy potential, which seems as if were designed to keep it under wraps. Now, the Interior Department strives for acknowledging the significant role Alaska plays to fulfill our country’s energy requirements, while supposedly offering vast economic opportunities for the locals.
This endeavor brings to fruition an executive order from January 20th and a February 3rd directive, visualising the unleashing of about 82% of the land in the NPR-A for leasing and energy exploitation, primarily achieved by reversing protective measures implemented over 13.3 million acres of the 26 million-acre reserve managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A law established in 1976 prescribes the Interior Department to maintain leasing in this region while preserving areas with any wildlife, scenic, historical, or subsistence value. The strategy aims to ‘balance responsibilities’ while still ensuring the preservation of surface resources.
The aforementioned steps are the latest in an ongoing push-pull struggle centered around drilling in Alaska. While some Alaska natives resist any development in these territories, others back the administration’s moves. As part of the processes instigated, the Interior Department is set to reinstate a program that makes available the whole 1.56 million-acre coastal plain of ANWR for oil and natural gas leasing.
The 2017 GOP tax transformation included a mandate for at least two lease sales for the same region. Nevertheless, the previous year’s leasing sale sparked almost no interest, while this year’s exhibition did not generate any offers. Advocates of drilling in this region suggest that the administration enforced regulations that dulled the appeal for development in the region.
The potential hindrances to reviving interest in leasing, however, might not be connected to the administration in power but rather to difficulties in securing funding for projects in a region that is often viewed as hostile towards development. Strikingly, the Department also decided to overturn decisions which withdrew land along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline passage and the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River from proposals for development.
This negation could permit the detailed land conveyance to the state for backing an Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline, along with the Ambler Access Project. The latter would involve the framework of a road, deemed crucial for the enhancement of commercial mining in a mineral-dense, yet deserted region of the state.
Previously, the administration declined the project due to the absence of functioning mines in the area and unavailability of any project proposals pending with the federal government. But in light of these new actions, the possibilities for previously dormant energy potential have been rekindled – though not necessarily to the benefit of sustainable energy schemes and environmental preservation.