The Trump administration officially withdrew three Biden-era policies on Monday in an effort to make it easier to develop energy resources across the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the Department of the Interior (DOI) withdrew three policies that supported restricting the state’s energy resource development in the NPR-A, according to the agency. Former President Joe Biden cracked down on the energy industry in Alaska, taking several actions to block mining projects as well as the oil and gas development plans in the name of nature conservation, while the Trump administration had worked to unleash the state’s vast energy resources.
“Alaska’s resource potential has been held hostage for years by anti-development ideologues,” said DOI Secretary Doug Burgum. “The Trump administration is delivering certainty for industry, opportunity for Alaskans, and real energy security for the American people. We are committed to putting development back at the center of land management where it belongs.”
The Biden-era policies rescinded included one authorizing a report on “maximizing protection” in the NPR-A, as well as a request for information and a memorandum on “special areas” within the NPR-A, with Monday’s moves representing new agency priorities under the Trump administration.
The action removes “burdensome restrictions” that will allow the state to better leverage its natural resources, according to the DOI. The reversals of the Biden-era policies align with President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order on unleashing Alaskan energy.
Biden heavily restricted oil and drilling activity across almost half of the NPR-A, which spans 23 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope. Congress designated the reserve for oil and gas development in response to the oil crisis of the 1970s, and the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are billions of barrels of oil below the soil.
Some native communities voiced disappointment in Biden’s actions to lock up the North Slope’s energy industry at the time, subsequently cheering on Trump’s moves to unleash the state’s resource development as oil and gas are key to their economy, community leaders told the Daily Caller News Foundation previously.
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Author: Audrey Streb
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