Alaskan delegation and governor criticize Biden’s Home Department for blocking ANWR

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08.03.21

US Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Congressman Don Young and Governor Mike Dunleavy (all from R-Alaska) have issued the following statements criticizing the announcement made today by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Department of the Interior that the agency initiate the additional environmental impact statement (EIA) process for the Coastal Plains Oil and Gas Rental Program of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR ). This follows the Home Office’s suspension of all oil and gas leases for parts of ANWR Non-Wilderness 1002 in June pending the outcome of another environmental review. The leases were issued in January under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017, which authorized responsible energy development for the ANWR.

“For more than 40 years, the people of Alaska have urged Congress to develop and implement a rental program for the Coastal Plain,” said Senator Murkowski. “With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017, the secretary is tasked with establishing two area-wide leases of at least 400,000 acres each in the coastal plain. A distinguished team of career experts and Home Office scientists spent thousands of hours over nearly two years developing a comprehensive range of alternatives and protective mitigation measures that would apply to all oil and gas activity in the 1002 area, and now this administration is going to throw it all away and start over because they don’t agree with that. It is pure and simple politics. I expect the administration to meet the timely direction of Congress by 2024. ”

“BLM has conducted years of evidence-based science work to develop a sustainable EIS and rental program for ANWR Non-Wilderness 1002 as required by federal law. Today, the Biden administration threw the work of career BLM scientists out the window in yet another political stall tactic at the behest of radical environmental groups and far-left members of the administration, ”said Senator Sullivan. “By initiating this additional EIA, the Biden administration is ignoring the will of Congress, the will of the Alaskans and the best interests of the Native Alaskan communities on the North Slope. It is outright anarchy. This might be what ‘build back better’ looks like for federal bureaucrats and radical environmental groups, but it certainly isn’t for hard-working Alaskan families or the people who actually call the ANWR at her’s. I call on Secretary Haaland to listen to the voices of Alaskan natives and Alaskan people, embrace the science in the existing HIA, and end the relentless war on the economy and working families from Alaska.

As if the suspension of drilling leases weren’t devastating enough for our state, today’s attempt to delay exploration for resources in the ANWR through bureaucratic red tape only insults further. the Alaskans, ”Congressman Young said. Throughout the process leading to the sale of the leases, we ensured that the laws were respected and the environmental requirements met. An EIA has long been successful, and requiring a second is redundant, unnecessary and an affront to taxpayers. Alaskans have balanced resource development and environmental conservation for decades; we know how to do it and we do it well. We don’t need another IST and we can’t keep moving the goalposts. Today, I call on the Biden administration to uphold the law and allow further development. “

“This announcement is yet another example of the Biden administration’s attempt to shut down Alaska’s primary industry to appease radical environmental groups bent on turning our state into a great national park,” said the Governor of Alaska. Alaska, Mike Dunleavy. “An additional EIA only serves to reverse the results of the environmental study which has already been completed and which found oil and gas development in ANWR Area 1002, an area reserved for oil exploration and gas, can take place without harming the environment. Alaska is America’s energy storehouse and we can develop ANWR’s resources while protecting the refuge, for no one is more protective of our lands and waters than the Alaskans.

Related issues: Energy

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