Biden advances final effort to ban Arctic oil drilling

(Bloomberg) – The Biden administration advanced a plan to limit oil drilling and infrastructure across more of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a bid to lock in land protections and conservation requirements days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The Interior Department move Thursday represents the latest step by outgoing President Joe Biden to enshrine protections that could complicate Trump plans to rapidly expand oil and gas development across US federal lands and waters. In recent weeks, Biden also has designated new national monuments and ruled out the sale of drilling rights in more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters. 

In the latest action, the Interior Department is proposing new “special area” designations that would restrict drilling and other activities across more than 3 million acres of the Indiana-sized reserve in northwest Alaska. The move comes on top of an existing policy, finalized last year, that barred drilling across nearly half of the NPR-A. 

The rugged terrain once earmarked for energy development contains an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but it’s also an important habitat for caribou, grizzly bears and migratory birds. And it’s a prized resource for Alaska Natives who have long relied on the land for subsistence hunting and fishing.

The Interior Department immediately imposed measures meant to avoid damage to those areas even while they’re being considered for protection, effectively raising hurdles for building roads and other infrastructure across the tracts. 

Although Trump could cast aside his predecessor’s proposed special areas and ignore the interim safeguards imposed in the meantime, the action could be challenged in federal court. The report and memo unveiled Thursday bolsters the government record for those safeguards, providing potential fodder for any future legal battle.