Biden Administration Prohibits Gas and Oil Exploitation in Northern Alaska to Tackle Climate Crisis

Any new exploitation of gas or oil is now prohibited in a huge area of ​​​​northern Alaska. A decision announced Wednesday, September 6 by the Biden administration to respond to “the climate crisis”, even though the American president had approved a hydrocarbon project in this same region five months earlier.

This new measure concerns more than four million hectares, an area comparable to that of Denmark, within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a well of biodiversity and a vital natural space for populations of grizzly bears, polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migrating birds.

“Alaska is home to many of America’s most beautiful natural wonders,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe, we have a responsibility to protect these precious regions for centuries to come,” he added.

The US Department of the Interior, in charge of federal lands in the United States, claimed to have canceled seven operating permits authorized under President Donald Trump in another protected area in northern Alaska. The new plan also prohibits drilling in an area of ​​more than one million hectares in the Beaufort Sea, located north of the northern coast of Alaska. Aid for the local indigenous populations in these economically devastated lands was also promised.

The “Willow” extraction project maintained

In March, the Democratic president’s administration was heavily criticized by environmental activists after its decision to authorize a vast hydrocarbon project by American giant ConocoPhillips in the National Petroleum Reserve. This project, called “Willow”, is not questioned.

Reduced to three drilling zones against the five initially requested by the company, it will cost between 8 and 10 billion dollars and should result in a total indirect emission of the equivalent of 239 million tonnes of CO2. Environmental groups denounce a disaster for the climate, and some see Wednesday’s announcement as an attempt to catch up on the part of the Biden administration.

These measures “are illegal, reckless, defy common sense and are the latest evidence of the inconsistency of President Biden’s energy policy”, reacted the Republican senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, denouncing a lack of consultation of the indigenous communities concerned.

Democrat Mary Peltola, who represents Alaska in the United States House of Representatives, said she was “deeply frustrated”, accusing the Biden administration of having remained deaf to the demands of the population.

Joe Biden also faced opposition from prominent members of local Indigenous communities who lamented the economic impact of the measure on their region. “Our community fought hard to have the coastal plain opened up to oil and gas concessions,” said Annie Tikluk, Mayor of the Town of Kaktovik. “Our community is economically left behind. We are constantly looking for economic opportunities to ensure our long-term sustainability,” she continued.

Biden is working on his green image

Observers analyze Joe Biden’s announcement as a way for the American president to restore his reputation on climate. During his campaign for the presidency, he promised a freeze on oil exploitation permits, a promise that was not kept. However, the International Energy Agency recommends that all governments refrain from any new oil or gas exploration projects to limit human-caused global warming.

Last year, the Democratic president also passed a huge $400 billion climate investment plan. According to a study, published in July in the journal Science, it would make it possible to reduce American greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 by 43 to 48% compared to 2005, without however allowing the United States to divide its emissions by two by 2030, as planned by the world’s leading economic power.

2023-09-07 07:08:52


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