The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand drilling for %CrudeOil in the Alaskan wilderness.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has begun implementing plans to expand energy and mineral resource production in Alaska.
President Trump has promised to “unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential” and was elected on a promise to let oil and natural gas companies “drill, baby, drill.”
The Interior and Bureau of Land Management are reopening 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to leasing and energy project development.
They also plan to open the entire Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil leases and will restart the Alaska LNG Project in the Arctic state.
The actions kickstart a regulatory review process that includes lengthy comment periods, as well as proposed and final rules by government staff.
Environmental organizations were quick to criticize the move, with the Sierra Club saying, “Donald Trump believes Big Oil CEOs, billionaires, and corporate polluters should benefit from America’s public lands, not we the people.”
The announcement came a day after Trump met at the White House with the American Petroleum Institute and the heads of the largest U.S. oil companies.
Previous U.S. President Joe Biden had banned drilling on 28 million acres of Alaskan federal lands. Trump has now reversed that ban.
The 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is estimated to hold 895 million barrels of crude oil.
There is also believed to be $44 billion U.S. worth of natural gas deposits in the Alaska reserve area.
